The ‘overland’ built Jeep carries a lot of weight – from a roof top tent, to a Synergy cargo basket inside with up to 8 gallons of fresh water, a ‘house battery’, firewood supplies, kitchen gear and more so it stands to figure Jeep suspension components need some upgrades. In this case, the Hellwig heavy-duty sway bar is about to replace the OEM Jeep part.
My regular readers will remember I had OME shocks and Metalcloak springs installed last year which was a huge improvement over the low-cost Procomp parts I originally installed.
One thing that never really changed was the ‘body roll’. The weight of the tent pulls the Jeep body to the side slightly. It’s something you get used to and just adjust your driving slightly. A friend recently suggested a Hellwig rear anti-sway bar, and on his advice, decided to spend the $200 to give it a try.
Now, he’s a mechanic, and has his shop equipment and tools to do the work, so in about 15 minutes the old sway bar was off and the sway bar links disconnected.
Another few minutes of getting the right angle to run the new anti-sway bar through and get it loosely bolted into position.
A few more minutes later and the new sway bar was installed and everything tightened up according to the easy installation instructions.
As far as the final result? Night and day difference from the OEM sway bar to the Hellwig heavy-duty bar when combined with my 3.5″ lift and the weight of my Overlanding gear. The Jeep body roll is tight and much better controlled – no more subtle swaying back and forth – I noticed the improvement with the first turn I took when leaving his shop. I’ll be looking forward to some off-road excursions to fully test it out soon!
In summary, you’ll want to look into one of these heavy-duty sway bars if you experience body roll – overland built Jeep or not. As a matter of fact, Hellwig manufacturers heavy-duty sway bars for a wide range of vehicles. Check out the collection on Amazon by clicking here. For the #VagabondExpedition Jeep Wrangler, you’re looking for Hellwig 7706 (click here). I’m going to be as bold to even suggest that if you’ve lifted your Jeep (or other vehicle), you’re going to want to tighten up the rear sway bar – and a Hellwig heavy duty rear sway bar just might be what you need!
