Thinking about sway bar discos

scoobycarolanNC

scoobycarolanNC

Member
JKS has their quicker discos for the JL available now. I’ve been thinking about getting them but for rough trail riding & not crawling I’m not sure they’re worth the $250 tag. I’m in a Sahara so I don’t have the luxury of the rubicon’s switch. Any opinions or thoughts? I’m stock for now so I thought it might be an ok 1st step.
 

BillArnett

BillArnett

New member
Don't be too jealous of the Rubicon's electronic disconnect. It's an unreliable POS, identical, AFAIK, to the one on the JK Rubicon. Sure, the concept is great. And when it works it's very nice. But the one on my JK sometimes wouldn't work (in either direction) and finally totally failed and had to be replaced. I didn't actually see it but the tech who did the work said my old one was totally rusted out inside. I've put only 5000 miles on my JL so far and already I've had one instance where it failed to reconnect. I had to drive tens of miles on the highway with no sway bar, not a pleasant experience. Then miraculously it reconnected again. For the rest of my trip I was afraid to use it. When I got home I cycled it a couple dozen times with no problem. Exactly the same experience I had with the JK. I'm not optimistic for the future :-(
 

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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Well, here's what I'd do if I were in your shoes.

DISCONNECT INSTRUCTIONS
1. Carry an 18mm wrench. A gearwrench would be better being that it's faster to remove bolts.
2. Remove the passenger side sway bar link bolt at the axle. Being that it has a flagged nut securing it in place, you only need the one wrench to remove it.
3. Rotate your sway bar link up so that it's sitting in line with the sway bar arm and zip tie it in place.

Just like that, you're disconnected. Being that you're not going to be rock crawling, you won't have to worry about your sway bar arm getting in the way of things. If you do go rock crawling, simply remove the other link and zip tie the whole sway bar arm and links up and out of the way. You will need a 2nd 18mm wrench or socket/ratchet to remove the drive side bolt. :yup:
 

scoobycarolanNC

scoobycarolanNC

Member
BillArnett said:
Don't be tOo jealous of the Rubicon's electronic disconnect. It's an unreliable POS, identical, AFAIK, to the one on the JK Rubicon. Sure, the concept is great. And when it works it's very nice. But the one on my JK sometimes wouldn't work (in either direction) and finally totally failed and had to be replaced. I didn't actually see it but the tech who did the work said my old one was totally rusted out inside. I've put only 5000 miles on my JL so far and already I've had one instance where it failed to reconnect. I had to drive tens of miles on the highway with no sway bar, not a pleasant experience. Then miraculously it reconnected again. For the rest of my trip I was afraid to use it. When I got home I cycled it a couple dozen times with no problem. Exactly the same experience I had with the JK. I'm not optimistic for the future :-(
Click to expand...

Oh I know. I’m just teasing you fancy rubicon owners. I’m sure Mel’s working on the evo no limits for the JL & the FAD.
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
BillArnett said:
Don't be tOo jealous of the Rubicon's electronic disconnect. It's an unreliable POS, identical, AFAIK, to the one on the JK Rubicon. Sure, the concept is great. And when it works it's very nice. But the one on my JK sometimes wouldn't work (in either direction) and finally totally failed and had to be replaced. I didn't actually see it but the tech who did the work said my old one was totally rusted out inside. I've put only 5000 miles on my JL so far and already I've had one instance where it failed to reconnect. I had to drive tens of miles on the highway with no sway bar, not a pleasant experience. Then miraculously it reconnected again. For the rest of my trip I was afraid to use it. When I got home I cycled it a couple dozen times with no problem. Exactly the same experience I had with the JK. I'm not optimistic for the future :-(
Click to expand...

LOL!! You have some luck don't you. Me, I LOVE the Rubicon e-disco. Sure, the one on my 2007 JK eventually died but only after racking up over 100,000 miles on it. Of course, converting it into a manually operated disconnect with the EVO No Limits knob was super cheap and easy to install. Been using it ever since and without any problems. Don't even need to be on level ground to disconnect or reconnect. Before selling my 2012 JK, I had over 100,000 miles on it and NEVER had a problem with my e-disco. If you or anyone doesn't like theirs, I'll gladly take it off your hands. Hell, I'll even pay for shipping. :yup:
 

doubletapdaddy

doubletapdaddy

Caught the Bug
BillArnett said:
Don't be too jealous of the Rubicon's electronic disconnect. It's an unreliable POS, identical, AFAIK, to the one on the JK Rubicon. Sure, the concept is great. And when it works it's very nice. But the one on my JK sometimes wouldn't work (in either direction) and finally totally failed and had to be replaced. I didn't actually see it but the tech who did the work said my old one was totally rusted out inside. I've put only 5000 miles on my JL so far and already I've had one instance where it failed to reconnect. I had to drive tens of miles on the highway with no sway bar, not a pleasant experience. Then miraculously it reconnected again. For the rest of my trip I was afraid to use it. When I got home I cycled it a couple dozen times with no problem. Exactly the same experience I had with the JK. I'm not optimistic for the future :-(
Click to expand...

I can only hope that my JL e-disco is as reliable as my JK e-disco was. I had just over 60,000 miles that included rain, sleet, snow, salt, sand, mud, water submersion, etc. and never had a problem.
 

scoobycarolanNC

scoobycarolanNC

Member
wayoflife said:
Well, here's what I'd do if I were in your shoes.

DISCONNECT INSTRUCTIONS
1. Carry an 18mm wrench. A gearwrench would be better being that it's faster to remove bolts.
2. Remove the passenger side sway bar link bolt at the axle. Being that it has a flagged nut securing it in place, you only need the one wrench to remove it.
3. Rotate your sway bar link up so that it's sitting in line with the sway bar arm and zip tie it in place.

Just like that, you're disconnected. Being that you're not going to be rock crawling, you won't have to worry about your sway bar arm getting in the way of things. If you do go rock crawling, simply remove the other link and zip tie the whole sway bar arm and links up and out of the way. You will need a 2nd 18mm wrench or socket/ratchet to remove the drive side bolt. :yup:
Click to expand...

Huh! I didn’t think about only doing one side & with a flag but that’ll be cake! You just saved me $250!
 

I

Inox

New member
I went to tractor supply and got two clevis pins and clips,replaced the bottom, bolts on both sides with the pins put a washer on and a nut slide stock disco back on and added one more washer to gap fill to the closest hole, on my JkuS. 15$ just my .02
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Inox said:
I went to tractor supply and got two clevis pins and clips,replaced the bottom, bolts on both sides with the pins put a washer on and a nut slide stock disco back on and added one more washer to gap fill to the closest hole, on my JkuS. 15$ just my .02
Click to expand...

It's a decent solution and one I used to run years ago on my old TJ but I should warn you to check the clevis pin ends on a regular basis. If you do a lot of driving on curvy roads, the ends will wear out and the pin will pull through the axle mounting tab. Ask me how I know.
 

OverlanderJL

OverlanderJL

Resident Smartass
BillArnett said:
Don't be too jealous of the Rubicon's electronic disconnect. It's an unreliable POS, identical, AFAIK, to the one on the JK Rubicon. Sure, the concept is great. And when it works it's very nice. But the one on my JK sometimes wouldn't work (in either direction) and finally totally failed and had to be replaced. I didn't actually see it but the tech who did the work said my old one was totally rusted out inside. I've put only 5000 miles on my JL so far and already I've had one instance where it failed to reconnect. I had to drive tens of miles on the highway with no sway bar, not a pleasant experience. Then miraculously it reconnected again. For the rest of my trip I was afraid to use it. When I got home I cycled it a couple dozen times with no problem. Exactly the same experience I had with the JK. I'm not optimistic for the future :-(
Click to expand...

Yeah they are horrible, that’s why I bought one for my sport.


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Spotscrib

Spotscrib

New member
If you REALLY have to get disconnecting sway bars I would stay away from the JKS one’s for the simple fact that for the JL you have to cut off a bracket on the passenger side AXLE to give space for the new bolt and sway bar I would suggest the Rock Krawler sway bar disconnects it’s all bolt on and the kit includes the lanyard and brackets to tie them into when disconnected which in the JKS that’s all optional


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Spotscrib said:
If you REALLY have to get disconnecting sway bars I would stay away from the JKS one’s for the simple fact that for the JL you have to cut off a bracket on the passenger side AXLE to give space for the new bolt and sway bar I would suggest the Rock Krawler sway bar disconnects it’s all bolt on and the kit includes the lanyard and brackets to tie them into when disconnected which in the JKS that’s all optional
Click to expand...

I must have missed the part where it's needed to buy anything at all. :thinking:
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Spotscrib said:
Yeah goes from $175 to $250 real fast with the JKS kit minus the labor if you can’t cut the bracket by yourself the Rock Krawler kit is $198 all bolt on
Click to expand...

But, all you really need is an 18mm wrench and a few zip ties. You can get a decent one for $10 if you don't have one already.
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Looks like Rancho just came out with a very nice sway bar disconnects that do NOT require cutting or drilling and will only cost about $170 :thumb:

attachment.php
 

scoobycarolanNC

scoobycarolanNC

Member
Spotscrib said:
If you REALLY have to get disconnecting sway bars I would stay away from the JKS one’s for the simple fact that for the JL you have to cut off a bracket on the passenger side AXLE to give space for the new bolt and sway bar I would suggest the Rock Krawler sway bar disconnects it’s all bolt on and the kit includes the lanyard and brackets to tie them into when disconnected which in the JKS that’s all optional


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
Click to expand...

Wow good catch on the cutting with the JKS kit. Definitely makes it not worth the effort for me. The RK kit is only for lifts so that out too. I’m sticking with Eddie’s idea of just taking the passenger side off.
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
scoobycarolanNC said:
Wow good catch on the cutting with the JKS kit. Definitely makes it not worth the effort for me. The RK kit is only for lifts so that out too. I’m sticking with Eddie’s idea of just taking the passenger side off.
Click to expand...

It works and it's FREE :yup:
 

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