If you found a spot on the rear swaybar to cut it in half and put a piece of pipe over it with 2 pins(one on each side of the cut), you could take out one pin and have a "disconnected" rear swaybar and still be able to reconnect it for highway use. Anyone have pictures of a rear swaybar to see if this is possible? Also what is the rear swaybar made out of? Could you even drill holes in it with a hand drill?
Rear swaybar "disconnect" idea
rcguymike
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If you found a spot on the rear swaybar to cut it in half and put a piece of pipe over it with 2 pins(one on each side of the cut), you could take out one pin and have a "disconnected" rear swaybar and still be able to reconnect it for highway use. Anyone have pictures of a rear swaybar to see if this is possible? Also what is the rear swaybar made out of? Could you even drill holes in it with a hand drill?
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The sway bar is pretty solid, so it probably won't be easy to drill. I do like your idea, the problem I had when I had it disconnected is that it would bind on each axle whenever there was flex, so unless the bar was completely removed you weren't going to be able to make it work.
I might take a peak underneath again and see what I can find, once again I do like the idea.
I might take a peak underneath again and see what I can find, once again I do like the idea.
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I looked at doing something like that. The rear bar is thinner than the front, so not as much to work with. The pins would have to be small, and my thinking is they would probably bend, break, or wear through since they would be taking all the torque.
I thought about cutting the bar in half and welding a spline or something of the sort on each half that could be connected by a sliding coupling. Problem there is lack of space above the differential, and also accessing it to connect and reconnect wouldn't be easy. And if the grooves of the spline fill with muck, etc, etc, etc.
Another thing was adapting the electronic setup from the Rubicon, but the lack of space is still an issue, not to mention the cost, IIRC was around $1000.
I thought about cutting the bar in half and welding a spline or something of the sort on each half that could be connected by a sliding coupling. Problem there is lack of space above the differential, and also accessing it to connect and reconnect wouldn't be easy. And if the grooves of the spline fill with muck, etc, etc, etc.
Another thing was adapting the electronic setup from the Rubicon, but the lack of space is still an issue, not to mention the cost, IIRC was around $1000.
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Just an FYI, I took the Jeep in to a DIY shop and got it up on a lift to see if we could get the rear sway bar out. We tried everything we could think of short of a cutoff saw, no luck. And according to the service manual, you have to actually drain and remove the differential entirely (2 hrs labor), not just lower it a little.
Bummer.
Bummer.
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There is a long straight section in the middle over the diff, probably around 3-4".
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Is it inline with the bushings? Or does it go up and over the diff? Is it easy to get too? I might just crawl under mine today and look.
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It goes up and over, not really easy to get to.
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drilling sway bar
If you want to drill threw the sway bar home depot sells rigid cobolt bits with a little cutting oil they drill threw the hardened steal I use them all the time im an iron worker that's all we use if you want to separate your sway bar leave a 1 " gap in the sway bar use cutting wheels and a grinder, my sway bar is 3/4 " get a 4" piece of schedule 80 pipe that's 7/8" inside and 2 hardened pins 1" long with holes on the bottom for cotter pins to hold the hardened pines threw the sway bar, make your sleeve 4" long on a section of the sway bar that's 8" straight . the kicker is you need sway bar bushings that gets you off the frame by a 1/2" that should work!
If you want to drill threw the sway bar home depot sells rigid cobolt bits with a little cutting oil they drill threw the hardened steal I use them all the time im an iron worker that's all we use if you want to separate your sway bar leave a 1 " gap in the sway bar use cutting wheels and a grinder, my sway bar is 3/4 " get a 4" piece of schedule 80 pipe that's 7/8" inside and 2 hardened pins 1" long with holes on the bottom for cotter pins to hold the hardened pines threw the sway bar, make your sleeve 4" long on a section of the sway bar that's 8" straight . the kicker is you need sway bar bushings that gets you off the frame by a 1/2" that should work!
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Well I'm sort of following that idea. I was planning on using two 3/8" grade 8 bolts with some angle iron to act as a sleeve. There isn't a straight enough long enough section to slide a pipe over(that was the original plan). I'm hoping that the shearing force could be shared between the bolt and the angle iron once it's clamped down. If this fails miserably I may just cut the whole thing out. My front has quick disconnects and should be good enough.
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As always click for full Res.
Forgot to put up pics. The thing is a bear to drill through, I was able to remove the left hand side part of the sway bar and take it out to the drill press to drill it. You'll want to get some very hard cobalt drill bits(8% the highest RHS you can find), a carbide tipped locksmiths drill, or a couple masonry bits(dull carbide tip bits, but they worked!). Any other type of drill I tried dulled within a few seconds of drilling. Still don't have the 2nd hole drilled but I think I'm going to try ordering an 8% Cobalt bit set or a locksmiths drill bit if I try.
Don't bother trying to drill by hand unless you have a very good drill bit.
Bottom looking up:
From the back both rear tires off the ground:
The electrical tape was for when I didn't have the angle iron, the bar flops around so I put some tape on to minimize the bang and turn it into more of a clunk until I could get to it the next evening.
So far everything seems fine. To get the bolt through I had to take out the top bolt on the bushing and disconnect the swaybar from the control arm and put the bolt through from the back, I also counter sunk it a bit, that should help the head grab and add a bit more clearance with the subframe. I may also have to grind down the thick part of the angle iron for clearance but that means taking it all apart again...We'll see how much initiative I can build up after the trip this weekend. All the bolts are 13mm. The "pin" I put in is 3/8".
P.S. I think the angle iron is 1/4" thick, I trimmed the edges on one side of each so they'd fit together and the bolt is 1 1/2", get 1 3/4" or 2" so that you can fit a lock nut. And it's a grade 8 bolt.
Forgot to put up pics. The thing is a bear to drill through, I was able to remove the left hand side part of the sway bar and take it out to the drill press to drill it. You'll want to get some very hard cobalt drill bits(8% the highest RHS you can find), a carbide tipped locksmiths drill, or a couple masonry bits(dull carbide tip bits, but they worked!). Any other type of drill I tried dulled within a few seconds of drilling. Still don't have the 2nd hole drilled but I think I'm going to try ordering an 8% Cobalt bit set or a locksmiths drill bit if I try.
Don't bother trying to drill by hand unless you have a very good drill bit.
Bottom looking up:
From the back both rear tires off the ground:
The electrical tape was for when I didn't have the angle iron, the bar flops around so I put some tape on to minimize the bang and turn it into more of a clunk until I could get to it the next evening.
So far everything seems fine. To get the bolt through I had to take out the top bolt on the bushing and disconnect the swaybar from the control arm and put the bolt through from the back, I also counter sunk it a bit, that should help the head grab and add a bit more clearance with the subframe. I may also have to grind down the thick part of the angle iron for clearance but that means taking it all apart again...We'll see how much initiative I can build up after the trip this weekend. All the bolts are 13mm. The "pin" I put in is 3/8".
P.S. I think the angle iron is 1/4" thick, I trimmed the edges on one side of each so they'd fit together and the bolt is 1 1/2", get 1 3/4" or 2" so that you can fit a lock nut. And it's a grade 8 bolt.
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That's awesome, great job! So when you disconnect the rear bar does it bind on itself during articulation? I like the idea, I wonder, could the front be does this way as well?
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If I knew for sure that the rear CV"s wouldn't cook themselves i'd just run the rear disconnected all the time.
So, It took me a bit to understand your setup, but i get it now. It's a bit of backyard genius, to be honest. Here's my one concern...
Because you have the angle iron pieces secured to the long section of the sway bar by a single bolt (and then a single bolt on the short side as well), I'm concerned that the angle iron sections will twist when a load is applied to one hole or the other, which will result in some or all of the following: elongating the holes on the angle iron brackets, elongating the holes thru the sway bar sections, or shearing the bolts as the angle iron tries to twist around the axis of the sway bar.
I like your idea. How much effort would it take to secure the angle iron brackets to the long sway bar section using two bolts?
Because you have the angle iron pieces secured to the long section of the sway bar by a single bolt (and then a single bolt on the short side as well), I'm concerned that the angle iron sections will twist when a load is applied to one hole or the other, which will result in some or all of the following: elongating the holes on the angle iron brackets, elongating the holes thru the sway bar sections, or shearing the bolts as the angle iron tries to twist around the axis of the sway bar.
I like your idea. How much effort would it take to secure the angle iron brackets to the long sway bar section using two bolts?
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There wasn't really enough room, that is the longest easily accessible straight section, ideally I'd use a tube but I didn't feel like finding the right piece so I used what I had. The bolt and angle iron may or may not hold up once I reconnect it. It will all depend on the tolerances and I'm hoping it will behave somewhat like the hitch pin on a trailer hitch. If I ever do connect it and it fails I'll probably just remove the whole thing. As it sits now the other bar just rotates like there isn't any force on it as the axis of rotation is centered in the bushings right where I put the angle iron. Yes it is a bit curved there but it's close enough to flex a tad if it has too. When I cut it in half you could make it flop around 4" in any direction. There is a straight section over the diff but it would be way too hard to access regularly.
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Fronts are much easier as you can turn the tires to access the sway bar link:
http://www.jeeppatriot.com/forum/showthread.php?p=976594&postcount=20
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