Despite our best efforts to discuss the use of sway bars, and to help people understand how they can help you, they are still looked upon as witchcraft. Those who stay connected off-road are derided as imbeciles, noobs, and made to sit in the corner and color.
We previously covered why sway bars are helpful in this article here. We also wrote about end links that try to give more flex while maintaining on-road performance from JKS with their Flex Connect. Those previous articles had one thing in common, both systems described were a compromise of performance. In order to have flex for off-road, you sacrificed on-road performance.
What Off Road Only did was develop a dual rate sway bar that gives you a stiffer on road sway bar than factory. With the simple flip of a lever, you get the controlled flex you desire off road. There are a couple of other dual rate systems available but they require extreme offset wheels or other modifications. The SwayLOC can fit with factory offset wheels and tires, and as you will see, can be configured to fit around most aftermarket accessories.
Design
The key to the SwayLOC system is the bar within a bar design. The off-road torsion bar is encapsulated inside the on-road torsion bar. The system is alternated between the settings by way of a simple lever. Flip it one way and the locking bolt retracts. This disconnects all force from the outer torsion bar using only the smaller diameter inner bar to provide better traction and more flex off-road.
Re-engaging is as simple as flipping the lever to the closed position and driving away. No dirty links to reinstall, to grease to apply, no laying under the Jeep in the mud to get everything back together. You don’t even have to be on a level surface. Just drive slowly for a few feet and once the sway bar passes the lock point it will automatically engage.
There are a few other features that bear mentioning. Unlike many other manufacturers, the SwayLOC uses Chromoly for the torsion bars. Unlike steel, they are less likely to rust, have a higher resistance to fatigue and better longevity under stress. The SwayLOC comes with multiple length tubes to create custom end links. Allowing for use with zero lift up to 10 inches of total lift. Upgraded Heim joints that are serviceable and significantly stronger are also included. Because of the upgraded on-road torsion settings, there is more stress on the links than the factory setup. The links are all anodized and all parts come prepainted except the upgraded axle reinforcement.
Also included are brackets to reinforce the lower end link mounts. These new brackets are unfinished so you have the option to weld them to the axle housing for maximum strength. You can see in the picture that’s how we mounted ours. Graphite impregnated polyurethane mounting bushings are provided in multiple thicknesses and quantity to allow for custom installs to clear aftermarket accessories.
Lastly, every wear part is serviceable. That gives you a long service life and extended use without having to replace the entire assembly. Running ours for the last several months the maintenance is minimal, consisting of making sure it is greased and that there are no loose parts approximately once a month.
Does it work?
Simply answered yes it does. It works equally as well as the competition torsion bars off-road and the on-road handling is tight, accurate, and dare I say pleasant. I can throw our Jeep into a turn and know that I will have controllable body roll, in high winds the Jeep still wanders from gusts but there is not that listing like a pirate ship feeling, and braking is improved. Because the SwayLOC prevents the Jeep from twisting the motion is more controlled when the front end dives under hard braking.
The other benefit of a system like this is your shock gets to do their job and only their job. “A shock absorber on an automobile does one thing and one thing only, it keeps the car from bouncing.” Some people try to stiffen their shocks to reduce body roll, that hampers the dampening ability to absorb road imperfections and to control the action of the springs. The SwayLOC, like other sway bars, ties the spring, shock, and chassis into one cohesive unit working together to control all of these competing forces to give you a better, more controlled ride.
Chime in with your thoughts, comments, or trolling and we will happily respond.
