JeepsUnlimited.com

Before I even purchased my new 2001 Grand Cherokee, I knew that it would certainly be getting some suspension work. Take a WJ out on a highway and feel a 20 mph gust of wind tilt the Grand. Better yet, take a tight corner at speed and feel that body roll. Now a stock WJ is by no means a pig on the road, in fact it is one of the better cornering SUV's. The WJ was built to suit a large audience and strike a line between comfort and performance with cost in mind so you can't really blame Daimler-Chrysler for not including thick juicy sway bars stock. Although any real enthusiast of the road would certainly want them.

ADDCO makes just that, a thick juicy set of sway bars. Many replace just the rear sway bar and have reported excellent results. I decided not to compromise anywhere in the quest for the ultimate SUV and got both the front and rear sway bars.

Two brown boxes arrived via UPS within a few days and I tore apart the packing to reveal...

The rear sway bar, hardware, and bushings

Yes, they are massive sway bars. When you compare the stock front sway bar to the new one, the ADDCO one really doesn't seem that much larger but try picking them up and you quickly find out that the stock one is hollow and the ADDCO sway bar is S O L I D, you could break a toe if you dropped it. The rear sway bar is both visibly much larger than the stock rear sway bar and much heavier as well.

As far as installation goes, first off, there isn't much in the way of instructions included. Well, it isn't that hard to figure out, put this new sway bar where the old one was stupid. The installation is a little more complicated than that. The rear bar is easy, just take the old sway bar off and put the new one in place. Some people prefer to pick up a set of beefier Energy 1" sway bar greasable bushings rather than the ADDCO bushings. I think either would be fine but I would give the nod to the Energy bushings. Either way, the rear bar should take under 45 minutes to install.

The front sway bar took a bit of effort. There are close tolerances and the bar is heavy, it really helps to have a friend help out or have a lift, but it is certainly doable as a solo job in the driveway with a floor jack. The only thing to note, the front bushings aren't cut. So, grab a hacksaw and cut one side so the bushings can slip over the sway bar. The bushings are so hard and the tolerances are tight, there is no way to slip the bushings on there without cutting them. I have heard of people putting grease zerks in the bushing, so I tried that also, not a bad idea and it seems to work well. The front bar takes less than 2 hours with one person taking their time.

That is it for the install. Now for the test drive. Taking it around the first corner and you could instantly feel the difference. Body roll was just about gone. The increase in confidence in turns is huge. The WJ wants to corner now. Like I said at the beginning of the article, not everyone would want big juicy sway bars, but anyone who loves driving would. There really isn't any downside to this upgrade other than the addition of a few more pounds and maybe a speeding ticket on your favorite twisty road.