Have welder - will build crap! Side steps and extended sway

[Tommo]

Aaahhhh. True. The appearance counts for so much. Either that or after the accident, get under the wreck and take em off. Always keep a couple of shifters and a t55 torx bit in your first aid kit...

What about those other disco's which just have a bit of flat steel bar as the upright? (Might be the ORI ones, can't remember) That can't be any stronger than Angle, surely.

[Timmy]

Originally Posted by Tommo

Aaahhhh. True. The appearance counts for so much. Either that or after the accident, get under the wreck and take em off. Always keep a couple of shifters and a t55 torx bit in your first aid kit...
.

that would be even more illegal

[maddog]

The ones that ORI make are similar to the old Rubicon style ones. They're tube steel. You might be thinking of the Terraflex ones which are mostly made of flat bar.

[Tommo]

Whoever makes them... How solid is the bar? I'm just trying to get an idea of how strong it is - cos I reckon once I fix up my welds, mine will be plenty tough.

that would be even more illegal

It's either illegal or it's not... but it can be illegal without being criminal.

[maddog]

All the disconnects you can buy, Terraflex, Rubicon, custom ones by any shop are very strong.

They basically take the weight of the lean of the vehicle as you go around corners. If you were to have one snap mid corner, and you had a lift and were carrying a bit of speed, the result could be nasty. They also take weight on forward and backward movement as well, but this is less likely to be a drama in the event of a failure. It's the sideways strain that will put you in trouble.

IMO if you wanted to make your own, you'd be better off making them from scrath than you would be extending stock ones. At least it's one continuous piece of steel.

[Tommo]

Let's apply a bit of mechanical reasoning.

From looking at them, the sway bar would appear to reduce the vehicle height when cornering, thereby reducing body roll. As the body rolls over, the body pushes sway bar link up on the inside of the corner (compression). Via the sway bar itself, this is transferred to the side on the outside of the corner, where the link pulls the body down (tension) toward the axle. So as you corner you get tension on one side and compression on the other. The sharper the corner and the more speed, the more force is applied. As you go around the corner, the whole chassis moves closer to the ground.

The force applied is acting against the suspension. So it's not really the weight of the car per se, but the vertical moment of the side of the car while cornering, acting against the springs and shockers. I'd guess that in a harsh corner, that could be a few hundred kg. When the car moves back and forth, the only force on the links should be the friction where the horizontal part of the sway bar is attached to the car, which is harldly anything.

If your springs are harder to compress, you'd think the tension on the outside link would be higher. But, the inside spring is harder too, which limits the body roll in itself. So harder of softer springs, the force should end up being about the same.

I'm not sure why the rear sway bar is so much lighter - apparently there is less force applied to it, but I can't quite get a grip on why that is... unless it has to do with swerving while braking. If you brake hard and then turn sharply, the weight moves forward, and then to the side... BUT the only reason this would increase the force applied to the sway bar and links is the difference in the force acting against the springs depending on their compression. Ie, because the spring is already compressed partly due to the braking, squeezing it a bit further takes more force. I'm not sure to what degree springs actually do this, but it's the only reason I can think of.

So their might be a couple of hundred kg acting on a sway bar link during a corner.
Sound about right?

[murray]

Originally Posted by OzJeeper

Mate - the angle iron will not take the stress of a sway bar. Please replace soonest.

Please PM me re the welding

or me