I just looked thru my parts sheet and AllDataPro.

the bars on 3 types of Gen 1 monteros "look" the same but have a different part number than the Gen 1 D50.

The differences in the montero sway bars are just diameters. With the right bushings it seems to me that any of them would work.

'83 D50 bushings MB109682
Monteros
'83-89 2.6 swb bar MB176435 21mm
bushings MB176442
'89-90 V6 swb bar MB176438 26mm
bushings MB573784
'89-91 V6 lwb bar MB573753 27mm
bushings MB573783

part numbers are cast into bushings. I don't trust alldatapro on part numbers.

This would be interesting to dig into a bit. Almost like real suspension tuning. Well, sort of.

A 2-door turbo 2.6 with a heavy sway bar up front, riding on 28's...that would corner! Well, sort of...

John B.

I made the mistake of installing my LWB sway bar into my Raider and the Raiders into my LWB. The Raider acts like a street racer, and the Montero is a bit on the floppy side. I feel I will be correcting my mistake soon because the difference is noticeable.

that's interesting. I wondered if 1 mm made a difference.
I put a lwb rear sway in years and years ago. not sure why , i just did. It's a couple mm bigger.

The rear is hardly noticeable. The front on the other hand is very noticeable! But I've gotten used to it for the past 6 years with them off <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/drunk.gif" alt="" />

Charlie can probably tell you more about this than me, but if you stiffen up the front roll couple and not the rear, you will wipe out the built in understeer of the Monty swb chassis. Understeer means the front has less traction than the rear, which is safer for the average driver, as you will scrub off speed if you enter the corner too hot. Oversteer means the rear breaks loose first, which is rewarding for the better driver, but a snake pit for the clumsy one. You will also loose some degree of articulation. 1mm becomes a large difference due to the square function the the cross sectional area calculation, which along with the steel modulus of elasticity determines the stiffness of the bar.

I still want to fab up a simpler sway bar disconnect with a lever in the cab to disco/recon the bars. One of our mostly now absent brothers from Oz used to sell one, but, like most things, I think I have a better idea...

Do tell.

And put me at the top of the waiting list for it when you have a functional version for sale.

Having several different varieties of sway bar disconnects available is pretty much the only reason I ever feel any jealousy towards Jeeps. It's the one piece of equipment that would enable my Montero to become a perfect dual-purpose vehicle - incredibly comfortable and civilized when driven on the street, and even more capable off-road.

My idea is similar to the Aussue disco. I'd put the cut and the locking sleeve on one end of the bar, and I'd lock it with a spring loaded pin that engages both halves of the locking collar. The spring is loaded in the lock direction by the lever action, and the pin will engage when the holes aligh the first time after the lever is engaged. Disco works the same way, loading the spring in the undo direction, and it comes loose the first time the pin unbinds. The locking sleeve is two concentric cylinders, one each locked to the bar on each side of the cut. I'm still leaning toward welding the sleeves, but I'm a little leery of loss of metal temper and strength at the welds. The pin will only be into half pin diameter in the bar to maintain the most bar possible.

The Aussie disco had a manual pull pin which required you to crawl under, or an optional air cylinder actuator for remote operation, but that requires an air sourse.

When I installed the LWB bar on my Raider, what a lovely change that was. Depending on how things go with Pearl, the Black MM, I have located a huge diameter front bar...maybe consider a little road race truck instead of trail ride.