The biggest thing holding back sway bar disconnects besides the lack of market for them is the liability. I disco'd the swaybar once last summer and drove like that figuring it would be all right. It wasn't. The KJ was scary on the highway and I wouldn't recommend trying this at speeds great then 15 mph. If a sway bar isn't connected on IFS, a vehicle handles dangerously. One idiot driver crashes and sues and that company goes out of business...

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'02 KJ Sport V6 4x4
3/8" Clevis lift
Rusty's 2.5 lift
255/70/R16 Fleet Farm All Terrain (yes they work)
Class 3 hitch
Hellas
Police Scanner/CB radio
LOST #: JH061986

Thanks for all the input guys! Yeah, there's reasons why I'm looking at the fancy auto-disconnect system. Primarily;

- You can't just use quick disconnects like you can on a TJ (for example) for the reasons Clint gives. Sure the q-discos will speed up your time spent totally removing the front antiroll bar, but really it's the difference between 4 bolts and 6, so not a huge difference!

- A lot of the trails I run aren't contiguous. There are high-range road sections (easy tracks, gravel roads, and even tarmac) of varying lengths between the interesting low-range bits. Putting on and taking off the antiroll bar would be a royal pain in the behind.

Yes I know it's probably going to be spendy. But until I can find a Dodge parts supplier that actually lists these parts for the 2005 Power Wagon I don't know quite how spendy. I'm not after all the software control gubbins, just the bit that wraps around the antiroll bar. So we can have a sort of semi-automatic control. Plus, if we can find out how that box of tricks works then there might be a way to emulate it in an even simpler form. Whatever, it's going to involve cutting the antiroll bar in half, which isn't for the faint of heart, or thin of wallet.

Really though I'm just thinking aloud! I'd be very interested to see if Mr Lizard can come up with some ideas, but honestly I'd prefer it if he concentrated on bumpers and sliders!

Thanks again chaps, all input is gratefully received.

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KJ 2002, 3.7L Sport
Stuff | Pics
Lifetime Member # EJ062115

Someone either here or over at JU developed a center sway bar disconnect, but didn't market it, either due to lack of support or liability. You may want to talk to someone with the screen name of Mr. Bishi over at the Outerlimits Mitsubishi forum. He has a center disconnect available for Montero/Pajero's, which might be adaptable to the KJ.

I fully understand that swaybar removal allows an excess of body roll on the road, AND that with the KJ's IFS, this causes a significant amount of camber change (leading to dangerous handling). What I was alluding to was simply this: An ELECTRIC DISCONNECT allows full articulation off-road AND stock handling on-road.

There is no reason to fear the "failure at speed" issue because when designed correctly, the probability of a disconnect failure is much lower than that of any other major suspension component. The reason that no quick-disconnect is currently offered is most likely because the product has not been proven profitable for any manufacturer, including the OEM.

We users of internet forums too often fall into the trap of group-think and miss out on great opportunities. I'd just like to open up some thoughtful discussion on development of new technology, and see if anyone out there is pushing themselves to develop this stuff.

Good call KJNick!

A quick snoop around Outer Limits came up with this;
http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=40624
Which looks just the ticket;


And spookily enough, the bloke who makes them is in Melbourne. Like me.
I like the way you can have either manual or semi-automatic operation. And you can get the manual version and later convert it to semi-auto. And vice versa, presumably. The price of the manual version seems comparable with the quick-disconnects that the TJ folks can get. But I dunno what fitting would be like. And how cool would the auto version be!

I'll ping the guys who make them to see whether they'd like to make some of these for KJs! I've also enquired as to the cost of a used anti-roll bar, 'cos I'd like to know how expensive the thing I'm cutting in half is!

I'll let you know what I find out.

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KJ 2002, 3.7L Sport
Stuff | Pics
Lifetime Member # EJ062115

I racked my brain for day's trying to figure something out that was fast and simple.

All I have to do is remove the bushing brackets and the bushings.

The bracket is shaped like a "P" with an opening in the bottom to slide it over the sway bar.

Then I tie wrapped a piece of rubber hose on the sway bar to prevent noise.

The "P" bracket is made from flat steel 3/16" x 3/4" bent in a vice.

The "P" needs to be fairly large front to back so that the swaybar, when released, can fall about 1/2" to an 1" so that it will rotate away form the mounting bolts and the gap in the "P".

I put the nuts back on the studs to protecet them from damage.

To mount the "P" I just drilled some holes in the frame and threaded them, I used the holes I drilled in the "P" bracket as my template.

I'll try to get some pics posted soon [url]http://www.nellingers.com/photo5.html[/url]

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86 XJ
3.4L V-6 TBI
8.8, D30, Lockrights frt & rr
Ramsey 8500,
homemade rockrails and frt bumper.

I copied DPKJ's idea from another post and it works pretty well. Still takes a few minutes to remove the four nuts and the brackets, but its much better than wrestling the whole bar out of there and putting it in the back of the Jeep. I also shaved the bottom bolt on both brachets about 1/2 inch to keep the bar from hitting them when it moves around.

Great idea DPKJ, thanks for sharing it with us!

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02 KJ Limited w/ offroad pkg, Sunroof, NP 242
Moab with 255/70 Grabber AT2's
Tweaked Rusty's Coil Lift w/ OME LT shocks
Mopar skids & Rocky Road Supersliders
http://www.cardomain.com/id/bighause

Retired Jeeps - 84CJ, 90YJ, 97XJ, 86CJ

.

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05 2.8L,rustys 2.5" lift,GDE TCM/ECM