Ok I have done my road test and did abit of flexing the front end on a vacant dirt lot near the recycling centre. I still don't understand why the service pack washers are required for new kits - as these make it impossible to remove the disconnect clips in the field without getting down in the dirt and working the wheels lock to lock to get the compression clamp onto the post, and you need to compress all four posts to get the clips out. I tried them both with the service pack washers and without, and it doesn't seem to make any difference (even in noise) but these are new discos and the bushings would not be worn. Not much noise on the road or over dips, etc, at this point. The good news is no sway bar contact with the tyre anymore, due to the sway bar rotation upward with the longer link length that the disco provides. I guess a reasonable strategy would be to leave the service pack washers on around town and on the highway, touring etc (which would minimise noise, thud, clunk etc) and to take the service pack washers off once at camp at Jambo, Coffs etc and just run with the clips in to get out to the tracks where you might need to disconnect. This would allow you to simply pull the clips out and not have to stuff around with the compression clamp, and would probably be ok on the road to and from the tracks.
At full (and near full) lock I do have contact with my brake line and ABS sensor wire mount and this would need further work. The disco posts need to be adjusted to a certain matching length for your particular lift. For lifts of 2" and above, brake line movement and ABC wiring reroute will be required. With my 70mm lift in the front I should have run the posts out more but I kept them shorter to try and avoid the need to do the brake and ABS wire changes, and that didn't work out - they still were touching them.
So for now I decided to pull the discos out and go back to the stock sway bar links (and not mess with my brake hardlines or ABS sensor wiring), and to give this some more thought. The amount of effort required to disconnect and reconnect the discos with the service pack washers and clamp just seems way out of reason for the amount of extra travel that I could make available, and the rare occasion that I might be actually able to need it. In a situation (like Jambo or Camp Coffs tracks) where your running out to a place on roads, firetrailling in to a track, and then havng to come back the same way, you will have to disconnect and reconnect to travel safely. If your moving from track to track in high range, handling without a sway bar connected can get scary. I reckon in the amount of time it is taking me to disconnect them (using that darn clamp) I could have removed the stock sway bar link bolts and made a cup of tea. In fairness if I was just running with the retention clips alone it would be quick to get them back on and off again.
Not giving up on them yet, but not really happy either.
Followup: I have sent JBA an email asking a few questions about the service pack usage on new disconnects and what they intended (as the instructions are not clear on whether they should be used on new kits or when they wear and get noisy). I have also asked about the various length adjustment and why I can't simply run a length that does not cause contact.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
