The sway bar in your Jeep (or other vehicle) helps control the left and right roll of the body as compared to what the vehicles wheels are doing. Basically, it gives your vehicle more articulation over obstacles while keeping the body of your vehicle as upright as possible.
In the early spring of 2015, I was on a trail run (details here) where I discovered a problem with my ‘lifted jeep’, in that the company that did the work, shorted me on sway bar links.
When you “lift” a vehicle, you need to use longer sway bar links to keep the sway bar parallel to the level ground. My ProComp lift was to include longer links, but they were never installed, and I never noticed – until my problem on the Waiparous Trail.
I did some research on sway bar links, and decided to go with JKS Quicker Disconnects (links to Amazon). Although the price was higher than most competitors, I liked the fact these are adjustable and advertised “quick” to remove.
Installation was easy, although a bit awkward with getting tools into position. As far as these sway bar links being ‘quicker’, that remains to be seen – you still need to shove the Jeep around or use a pry bar to loosen things to pull them off once you pull the retaining pins.
After using these for numerous weeks now, I do like them, but found that the pins that the disconnects attach to come loose – it’s because they are difficult to tighten properly – be sure to use some red loctite or equivalent thread locker.
Here is a video of my JKS Sway Bar disconnects doing what they do on the sway bar, along with a view of my new ARB shocks and Metalcloak springs.
I do recommend these sway bar links, but suggest lots of thread locker to keep them from coming loose. As they loosen, you’ll hear a bit of a rattle up front. Stop when you can and tighten things up before you loose the mounting pin! It’s an easy one hour or so install, but make sure you get someone to grease the links before you install them if you don’t have a fully equipped set of tools at your disposal!
