Are sway bar extensions necessary for a lift? For example, I was told that these are the only necessary items for a lift:
upper control arms, torsion bars, add-a-leafs, and shock for the front and rear.

What about the sway bars? How does that work?

[ 10-25-2001: Message edited by: Strom ]

The swaybar itself does not need to be extended, however the endlinks themselves need to be lengthened, which you can accomplish by changing the bushings and spacer you're using on the endlink, or replacing the bolt with a longer one and getting a longer spacer. As to the torsion bars, it's the same as if there was no lift--they anchor into the lower a-arm, which remains stock.

I personally would recommend EOE tie-rods as well, but that's just because I seem to be having swaybar-tie-rod interference more since installing the lift.

I realized I made the assumption above you'd have swaybar disconnects installed...everything I said above should apply to the stock endlinks except you'll need to replace the bolts & lock nut with new ones.

So basically, I would need to extend the endlinks (either by bushings or bolt)? Should those endlinks come with the lift kit (and should they be both front and rear)?

Probably a stupid question, but should the length of the end link extension (spacer, bolt) be proportionate to the amount of lift you install? Or is it not really possible to add that much extension?

I'm not sure who includes them with a complete lift kit (I bought mine in stages.) I know SLR does, I think AC does, I'm not sure about Calmini. If you stare at your endlinks, I'm pretty sure all you need to do is lengthen out that center spacer a bit and/or switch to larger bushings. (I would say for sure but I haven't connected my front swaybar with my lift kit installed yet, so I'm not 100% sure.)

As to the rear, I don't know anyone running a rear swaybar w/ the lift, but yeah...I'd guess some sort of vertical spacers on the frame mounts for it? Not sure who has them...

If one of the engineers on the boards wants to chime in, maybe they can answer this better...but remember that the swaybar anchors to a part of the A-arm much closer to the pivot (where it bolts to the frame) than the wheels do. The lift kits allow you to run a higher angle on the A-arms, so the new distance from the lower a-arm to the swaybar in its nominal position would be increased, in an ammount proportionate to, but not equal to, the amount of total lift you have.

Here's a (bad) diagram that may help. The straight red line from the lower a-arm to the swaybar is where the endlink would be.

if memory serves, Calmini includes rear sway bar extensions with their lift.