sway bar disconnects

[87xjbeast]

Are the front sway bar disconnects made by rough country any good or would it be a waste of $70?

[jamesrw30]

I have wondered that myself. Been considering if I wanted to get some or just go without them.

[87xjbeast]

I dont know if it is because of my sway bar being unhooked or not but when going down the road if i turn it feels like the whole front axle is floating and i have to turn the wheel about 1 1/2 times before it will start turning it didnt do it before the lift so i thought it might have somthing to do with the trac bar so i put a bomb proof one on it and it still does it.

[jamesrw30]

I don't know much so hopefully some one who knows for sure will chime in, but I don't know if that has to do with sway bars or not. I thought about getting them just to be able to disconnect them and reconnect them for the flex when on the trail.

[markwhite83]

I dont know about your particular problem, but i did want to chime in and say, i have no sway bar on my XJ at all, i didnt want to deal with disconnects on the trail, but i wanted to make sure i had alot of flex in the woods. My XJ is my daily driver, I run 33s on it with about 6 inches of total lift, and it rides and turns great on the road. I have made a few 90 degree turns at a speed that is a little more than safe and it still turns good. With no sway bar, i can feel a little more body roll than normal, but not to much, and it is still very responsive from a steering stand point. I dont know but it sounds like play in the steering box, but im no expert.

[highrolrcustoms]

Sway bars on a coil spring vehicle are important while on the road. I do recommend disconnects for trail use. You flex will greately improve with them disconnected. As for a YJ I feel the sway bar isn't as important. I haven't had a sway bar on my yj since I have owned it. But for a street driven vehicle I would recommend leaving the sway bar on and just add a set if discos

[Bluegill]

Idk about XJ's ... but my TJ has seen years of DD duty ... many of those after I completely removed the front sway bar. It does surprisingly well in the turns, and steering responsiveness is no different than with the sway bar connected. I did leave the rear sway bar connected tho, tried running with no sway bars at all, but it was a lil too squirrely for my liking - especially off road.

Sounds like you have other issues, like Mark said - the steering box itself may be going bad.

[Hadfield4WD]

No sway bars on a tj is crazy.

You don't need the sway bar on an xj. It is just for body roll. The rear leaves help to keep it level. Just need to drive accordingly, not like it's a race car. If you want to drive around faster and take corners quicker then get the disconnects.

I drove mine on the road for years with no sway bar.

[jeep cherokee sport]

my XJ has no sway bar and is also perfectly fine. im with everyone else on sayin it may be in your steering box. but im no expert either. if your sitting still and turn does it make and popping noises or anything?

[87xjbeast]

my xj didnt have the problem untill i put the lift on so it wouldnt be the steering box i cant get it over 20 mph because it feels like the front axle is floating side to side and when i turn i have turn the wheel a couple times to correct it. it feels like a death trap! could my LCA'S be causing this. they are pro comp.

[RamAford]

Sounds like you have death wobble. Ive ran my XJ for 2 years without sway bars. First thing i cut off when i got the jeep. Its not bad on road, and helps the flex alot offroad.

As for death wobble, It can be caused from 1 thing or a combination of stuff. Sounds like something is worn out under the front end. Check it all over real good and see whats loose/worn. DW can be from worn out steering, trac bar, control arms, shocks, ball joints, tires outta balance, etc. The list is endless.

I actually replaced my steering on my dodge and a month later got DW. I was so made but it took me 2 days to find the problem. It turned out that one nut has started to loosen up and caused a little play. So check it all over real good several times.

[87xjbeast]

Well the thing that doesnt make sence to me is it didnt happen without the lift but the first time i drove it with the lift it was like that i put new skyjacker shocks and bomb proof track bar on and it still didnt fix it. the ball joints all seem tight. i didnt have this problem with the lift when it was on my other jeep. next i guess i am going to replace the bushings in my LCA'S and get dissconects and see if that fixes it.

[TNjeeper97]

There is a joint in the steering shaft that will wear out. It's got rubber in it and when it wears, the steering will feel "floaty". You can see the joint not far from where the shaft exits the firewall.

[Bluegill]

Did you put a dropped pitman arm on it? Ideally the drag link and trac bar should be parallel (same angle) - and both ends of the trac bar have to be torqued REALLY tight, with the full weight of the Jeep on solid level ground. A stock trac bar and stock pitman arm line up great in parallel - but switching either the trac bar or pitman arm to aftermarket will change the geometry so the angles don't match. This will cause some steering issues, but not every rig is the same; some will notice it and others won't.

Also, are you running the same tires as before the lift, or did you upsize your tires? My TJ did tend to wander a bit more when I went from 31x10.50 to 33x12.50. Wasn't much but it did take a lil getting used to.

[87xjbeast]

i didnt change the pitman arm yet and the tire size was the same and it still did it but now it has 36's on it. it almost feels like there is no track bar on it when you go to turn it and feels like the axle keeps going in the same direction and doesnt turn with the jeep. its pretty scary.

[sergei2008]

Got lots of stuff in this thread:icon_confused:. As for the disconnects, i used their earlier versions and they sucked. They rattled all the time and werent very easy to disconnect. The newer versions look like they improved them so maybe they are better. I would never disconnect them onroad, you just give up too much precision and stability. Offroad in technical areas the disconnects are great for articulation. I was suffering the wobble as well not long ago, but it was really due to alignment. I had Sears do an alignment and it didnt help. Replaced my ball joints, didnt help. Put on a Rough Country dual stabilizer, helped alot. Then when I got my duratrac I had goodyear align it. It was WAY off chart. I noticed the difference immediately. Even with 2 inch larger tires you cant notice anything. Turns out the track bar mount on the axle also got a little buggered up and that contributed too. It was torqued good, but there was just enough of ovalization to make a click sometimes, usually turning tight. But the alignment was the big ticket.