LOUD DISCONNECTS! (driving me crazy) PLEASE HELP!!

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:20 pm

i recently bought and installed the JBA quick dissonnects. the install went great and i followed the instructions exactly... now i get a "THUD/CLUNK" everytime i hit a small bump.. it even does it driving through my yard that we mow.. and down paved public streets. and it does it allll the time...driving me nuts!!!! i tried taking them off and adjusting the length and putting them back on and this didnt help. yes everything is tight and yes they clear everything under the jeep. please someone help me.. or atleast someone with JBA disconnects tell me theres do or dont do the same thing... i read a posting about them rubbing on the sway bar so i put 2 good sized washers there to prevent that. heres a few pictures PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!! :twisted:

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:48 pm

Lots of people say they clink and clank all the time, how much longer than stock did you make them? I know when we did Jons (jerbacher) I measured the stock ones and then made his about 2.5 inches longer. I know he has some noise but you may PM him and see if hes changed them ( made them longer / shorter) since I did them , not sure if that helps any but...... :roll:

Tom

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:56 pm

mine are about 1.5-2 inches longer than stock... in the instructions they said for a 2-2.5 inch lift to make them 1.5 inches longer than stock. maybe i'll crank them up some more and see how they act. I will PM him.. thanks

anyone else have an idea???? or experience???

Inc · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:12 pm

My budy had some old R.E. disconnects and they bumped and clanked a ton. That was what they did though no fixing for them. Maybe the JBA are the same deal.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:18 pm

I once emailed JBA to see if their disconnects were the same as the other companies. Almost a year later, no response.

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:20 pm

wow that's strange.. JBA has been nothing but great to be as far as customer service goes.. i plan on calling tomorrow to see if theres anything i can do about this situation

clreinstein · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:41 pm

I have the JBA disconnects which are actually just rebranded JKS disconnects. I talked to a tech a JKS in length about these and all the noise they make. The tech told me that they stopped making the disconnects at the end of 2006 because they were so noisy because the KJ unibody transfered so much noise. He stated that any shop that sells them should not be doing so and was willing to offer me a full refund for them on their behalf. Since JKS no longer makes these disconnects it is likely that the new disconnects that JBA has are the ones made for a WJ because that is what they sold before when Al Handy used to own them. The tech at JKS sent me a couple different sets of disconnects to try, and I did that along with washers and grind clearance on the knuckle and control arm in every possible place I could see imaginable yet they still make noise. The only place I can see where the noise could still be coming from is the small amount of play between the busing and the disconnect maybe enough to be causing a noise that resonates through the unibody.

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:19 pm

thanks a lot.. that's the only place i've noticed that they could be making noise at too.. but i dont know how it's even possible with the amount of noise they make for that to be the problem (between the bushings and the disconnect itself). i'm going to try and lengthen them a lot more tomorrow and see if it helps the situation at all. any more advise would be appreciated!

Joe Jeeper · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:39 pm

I have them.

clreinstein · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:40 pm

2006 KJ wrote:

thanks a lot.. that's the only place i've noticed that they could be making noise at too.. but i dont know how it's even possible with the amount of noise they make for that to be the problem (between the bushings and the disconnect itself). i'm going to try and lengthen them a lot more tomorrow and see if it helps the situation at all. any more advise would be appreciated!

The tech also said that some of the the disconnects that went out to their distributors had bushings that were slightly undersized or the tubing that the bushing sits it was too large allowing for play so that when the suspension compresses in jounce there is enough of a space between the bushing and the tube it sits it to cause the noise kind of like a worn out or wrong size bushing on a shock absorber.

CD · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:52 pm

People I've spoken to don't use then due to that. Which is part of the reason I don't have them, the other part of the reason is they cost and it's no cost to unbolt it each time I wheel.

Inc · **Posted:** Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:01 am

Is there really enough of a benefit to buy them anyway? I mean with an IFS you are pretty limited to front wheel travel. What do you get a few extra inches and then aren't your CV angles really stressed? I have run disconnects on my old TJ but never on an IFS. Please enlighten me.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:07 am

clreinstein wrote:

The tech told me that they stopped making the disconnects at the end of 2006 because they were so noisy because the KJ unibody transfered so much noise.

Do you believe that. :roll:

They stopped making them b/c they didnt perform well and didnt sell well. Pretty sure it was JJKJ that had one come apart and destroy his steering rack.

Ask them why its ok to use them on a xj.

Pablo · **Joined:** Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:06 pm **Posts:** 1201

I have them on, and they make lots of noise. It gets worse with the lift-- as the LCA scoots inboard and they are no longer in a straight line. The noise is what was posted above-- the play between the cotter pin and the disco. Go over a really big bump and you can bend the pin.

They do help offroad, especially stock. They don't give you much more articulation, they just give you better articulation. The wheels in the front respond much faster to terrain changes without the bar. With the bar hooked up, I notice the rear flexes much more and the front flexes less. With them off, the front end flexes much more and it has more "float" over the bumps.

CD · **Posted:** Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:39 am

Pablo wrote:

They do help offroad, especially stock. They don't give you much more articulation, they just give you better articulation. The wheels in the front respond much faster to terrain changes without the bar. With the bar hooked up, I notice the rear flexes much more and the front flexes less. With them off, the front end flexes much more and it has more "float" over the bumps.

That's it, well I mean no sway bar helps. Try getting full stuff on the left and full drop on the right with the sway bar on, it just wont happen. The disco's are there to make the job easy when undoing the sway bar, however as posted they make a hell of a lot of noise. Takes no more than 5 min to remove the front sway bar, and a little longer to put it back on. Remember your only going to get as much down travel as your upper control arm will allow before comming into contact with the body of the KJ. I've seen that a lot of KJ's cut the body to allow the JBA Upper Control arms to flex/frop. Not sure if that's so they work or so they can have more down travel. Full drop on a KJ that's not been cut (near the upper control arms) will never put the CV's at such an angle so as to cause them to break. At least that's how it looks to me, when I look at my KJ.

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:23 pm

i wanted the disconnects for easy take on and off. and yes the sway bar in the front makes a huge difference. not so much on the downward droop but for the front tires going up individually.. the more your front tire can articulate up the less the rear will have to stuff the tire..and the less the body will have to roll (possible the roof/windows into a tree). I contacted JBA today and he suggested putting a 3/4 inch washer on to try and eliminate the play between pin and the rubber bushing. This didnt work.. so i'll be returning them

but if you can put up with the noises they would be well worth it. great and easy install and they work flawlessly for quickness and ease. plus they look cool underneather the jeep. Oh well.. live and learn. Thanks again for JBA's outstanding costumer service and your (members of LOST)'s help with this situation.

jerbacher · **Posted:** Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:24 pm

<----------------- see avatar for benefit of disconnects. notice that the photo is not straight as the rear axle is at a slant opposite the front. one front is stuffed, other is at full droop, same thing going on in the rear, but opposite side. works like a charm. you dont get additional travel (thats impossible) of the wheels, just enables them to stuff one side, droop the other, so theres no added stress on CVs or anything. if you did that with the link hooked up, the front wheels would pretty much make a straight line across the jeep and force the rear to flex more, thus decreasing the amount of twist that you can get before you lift a leg.

i was pm'd about the noise. the problem is that i have clunks coming from a variety of locations right now, so i have no way to know if the discos are making noise or not. but, i would guess that they are. im ok with it.

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:45 pm

that picture is what inspired my purchasing of the disconnects.. now i guess i'll just have to unbolt the sway bar everytime i want to go wheel'in.

jerbacher · **Posted:** Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:52 pm

2006 KJ wrote:

that picture is what inspired my purchasing of the disconnects..

awwww im so honored! :lol:

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:50 pm

This is what unhooking the bar will do. I think some of those may be jjkjs Jeep but Im not 100% sure.

Cant get this one to show but heres a link:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v612/ ... titled.bmp

LOUD DISCONNECTS! (driving me crazy) PLEASE HELP!!

Who is online