NOW AVAILABLE: BOSS "Walker Link" Sway Bar Shock System - Great alternative to disconnects!

[T800]

The oem sway bar and Rockjock antirock are the exact same thing. Both are permanent bars attached to each LCA via the frame. They apply resistance when wheels articulate through a torsional spring, ie, the bar. The Rockjock antirock bar is just a lighter spring, ie, smaller diameter than oem. If you don’t wheel the Bronco why change the torsional spring rate?

I used to have an antirock on my Jeep, so I understand what THAT is. It's definitely not the same thing as the stock sway bar because it's a torsion bar. So it allows a significant increase in body roll. It's a trade off: better off road, worse on road.

My question is not how the antirock compares to the stock sway bar, that part is clear, it allows much more 'sway' but is better for offroad. I am not considering it for the Bronco, not at all.

My question is regarding how much body roll the Boss links have compared to the Anti-rock. I don't want to add body roll. I am looking for an alternative to manual disconnects and am trying to figure out if this is the best option.

At least for Jeeps, if you don't disconnect, you are much more likely to flop or roll since the sway bar isn't able to droop. So that is question #2. Is the Boss link going to allow enough movement to not be dangerous (like an attached OEM sway bar).

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[87-Z28]

I used to have an antirock on my Jeep, so I understand what THAT is. It's definitely not the same thing as the stock sway bar because it's a torsion bar.

You sure about that.

So it allows a significant increase in body roll. It's a trade off: better off road, worse on road.

I agree. But please explain how this marketing statement is accomplished. And how the mechanics differ from an OEM sway bar or stabilizer (sta) bar or anti-sway bar.

You can take a grinder to your oem __ bar and change its torsional spring rate by decreasing the bar diameter. This will also accomplish said marketing statement.

The antirock “torsion” bar has a much stiffer lever arm so that most (but not all) of the elastic displacements are concentrated in the longitudinal bar (as torsional displacement). The OEM __ bar has a softer lever arm such that it will contribute slightly more to the elastic displacements via bending. Springs in series, same force different displacements.

Both rely on torsional stiffness of the longitudinal bar. Small changes in diameter allow for large changes in torsional spring rate, resulting in a powerful control of spring forces wrt bar diameter. Making this a very effective tool for resisting wheel articulation. Too effective when opposing wheel articulation is desired such as in rock crawling.

 

[87-Z28]

Forces are applied to the longitudinal torsion spring (bar) through the end links attached to the LCA. Rigid end links apply instantaneous axial forces to the lever arm, which then applies a torque to the longitudinal bar. A relative torque only occurs in the longitudinal bar if the LCAs move in opposing directions. Otherwise there is no net torque applied. Since vertical (up and down) wheel motion occurs as LCAs move, wheel articulation will induce torque in the longitudinal bar and thereby provide elastic spring resistance.

Introducing a damper into the end link results in applied link forces as a function of damper piston velocity, or rate of end link displacements. End link displacements correlate to wheel displacements as previously mentioned. So rate of wheel displacement now control forces applied to longitudinal bar and thus resistance to wheel articulation.

As the vertical wheel velocity approaches zero there is no resistance to articulation within the damper piston stroke length. At some high level of wheel velocity the damper acts as a near rigid link. So very slow wheel vertical velocities effectively act as a disconnect, no forces in the links. These links have about a 1.5” piston stroke or so. That will allow for 3” of wheel articulation without resistance at zero piston velocity.

For driving on the road, these dampers can probably be tuned to behave similar to a rigid link under rapid evasive maneuvers, ie, as vertical wheel velocities are high. I am curious how they behave in a long sweeping corner, when vertical wheel velocities may be lowish. This would seem to challenge the damping. Too much damping and benefits during slow rock crawling diminish.

Best of both worlds, or worst compromise ever. All depends on your use case.

 

[userdude]

Forces are applied to the longitudinal torsion spring (bar) through the end links attached to the LCA. Rigid end links apply instantaneous axial forces to the lever arm, which then applies a torque to the longitudinal bar. A relative torque only occurs in the longitudinal bar if the LCAs move in opposing directions. Otherwise there is no net torque applied. Since vertical (up and down) wheel motion occurs as LCAs move, wheel articulation will induce torque in the longitudinal bar and thereby provide elastic spring resistance.

Introducing a damper into the end link results in applied link forces as a function of damper piston velocity, or rate of end link displacements. End link displacements correlate to wheel displacements as previously mentioned. So rate of wheel displacement now control forces applied to longitudinal bar and thus resistance to wheel articulation.

As the vertical wheel velocity approaches zero there is no resistance to articulation within the damper piston stroke length. At some high level of wheel velocity the damper acts as a near rigid link. So very slow wheel vertical velocities effectively act as a disconnect, no forces in the links. These links have about a 1.5” piston stroke or so. That will allow for 3” of wheel articulation without resistance at zero piston velocity.

For driving on the road, these dampers can probably be tuned to behave similar to a rigid link under rapid evasive maneuvers, ie, as vertical wheel velocities are high. I am curious how they behave in a long sweeping corner, when vertical wheel velocities may be lowish. This would seem to challenge the damping. Too much damping and benefits during slow rock crawling diminish.

Best of both worlds, or worst comprise ever. All depends on your use case.

Sorry, this is an English-only forum.

 

[87-Z28]

Just trying to add some depth and context to an otherwise rapidly evolving AI world where cognitive offloading prevails.

 

[userdude]

Just trying to add some depth and context to an otherwise rapidly evolving AI world where cognitive offloading prevails.

I was reading an article explaining entropy to the wee pee brain people ( my jam) and they had "mumbo jumbo wrt yada blah blah" and I went, I know what wrt means!! lol

 

[87-Z28]

Entropy is the devil manifesting himself to ensure everything in the universe slowly bends to his will and decays. Not science but witchcraft.

 

[ThunderFlash]

Best of both worlds, or worst compromise ever. All depends on your use case.

I've had so many changes and issues with my suspension, it's difficult to attribute changes in the handling characteristics specifically to the BOSS 4X4 links. But, as you so eloquently explained, I did specifically notice a wee bit more body roll at lower speeds while cornering, but I did not notice anything of significance at higher speeds.

Turning into my neighborhood, I have a weird down hill, then up hill off camber right hand turn with a dip in the middle of it. I can blast through that turn at much higher speeds now and the truck stays as composed as one could hope of a big, heavy lifted Bronco on 35" tires.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with them in combination with the tires and the addition of the OEM rear bar. The ride and handling on the road is improved and I genuinely feel like its hooking up better in the slow speed trails I love to drive.

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