Sway Bar Annoyance (Now with Pictures)

[XJNick]

Hi,

The following has been an issue for some time now on my Cherokee, and I'm now bumping it up in priority on my To-Do list as it is bugging me:

The front sway bar linkage on the passenger side of my Jeep rubs up against the coil spring. This means that often if I hit a bump I can hear the link clunking against the spring. What is so odd though is that the driver's side link and coil spring have like 2" of clearance between them. :?

I believe the bar began hitting the spring after I installed Rusty's 3" lift kit on my Cherokee, but am unsure as I never paid much attention to the sway bar before taking the Jeep apart. I was told that a possible way to fix the problem is to install spacer blocks between the sway bar mounts and the body of the Jeep. So I tried installing some home-made 1" blocks. They changed the geometry of the sway bar some, but didn't prevent the link from hitting the spring on that one side.

Has anyone run into this problem before? Oh, and I have pics if anyone needs to visualize the problem :mrgreen:
Thanks,
-Nick :!:

 

[TwistedCU]

Re: RE: Re: SugaMamas

Mine used to hit until I installed longer links, which moved the swaybar up slightly and out of the way.

Mine only would hit on a really hard bump though or seriously off camber situation where I left the swaybar connected AND my issue was on the driver's side.

As for the 2 sides not being uniform, do you still have a stock tracbar in the stock mounting holes? If so, lifting the vehicle moved your axle toward the driver's side, which would throw off the geometry some. You could either get an adjustable trackbar to re-center the axle or simply re-drill a new hole in the stock trackbar mount at the axle end (new hole toward driver's side). Either will work, but an adjustable bar would leave room for re-adjustment if your first attempt wasnt perfect. Re-drilling the hole is a one time shot

If the axle has already been addressed, maybe you could look into some adjustable control arms or try to correct the axle's front to rear placement. Don't forget the stock LCA's have a little adjustment in them too.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

I'm with TC, I'd guess the front axle needs recentered or you need to pull the swaybar sideways in the frame bushings.

 

[XJNick]

Hi,

I'll take another look at everything tomorrow, and maybe get some of those pics up as well. I just don't think that the axle being of center is the issue here :?

Thanks
-Nick :!:

 

[jeeperjoe]

RE: Sorry guys

i have the same problem with my RE links. it often clunks when the suspension shift during a turn.

 

[XJNick]

Hi,

Okay, here are some pictures of the passenger side and drivers side sway bar links: (click to enlarge)


And some pics of the spacer blocks I added to the sway bar frame mounts: (click to enlarge)



You can see that the upper bushings are missing at the sway bar links. I tried adding some new ones but couldn't because the sway bar cannot be forced down onto the links any further (because it collides with the coil spring on the passenger side).

Question: are the links supposed to be different lengths? Also, I noticed that the lower control arms seem to mount to the body of the cherokee through oval shaped holes, so it seems they can be moved forward or backward slightly. The passenger side lower control arm is clearly more forward in this mounting hole than the driver's side LCA. I wonder if this could be throwing the geometry off just enough to make the sway bar link hit the spring?

Thanks
-Nick :!:

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

motor swap

Good pics make all the difference. The frame is not level where the spacer blocks are used, thus the frame mount of the swaybar is being moved towards the rear of the jeep (slightly).

I think removing these spacer blocks, and installing longer swaybar endlinks to compensate for the lift, will fix your problem. Yes the endlinks should be the same length.

The lower control arm bolts should be in the same position side to side. If these holes are elongated there should be something in those holes to prevent caster change when the bolt moves fore and aft. TJ's use eccentric cam bolts at the axle end of the lower control arms.

 

[graewulf]

burp your jeep?

I agree.. get rid of the spacers.. if you yank them I bet they clear the springs fine.... Get longer links.. Question: How much lift are you running?

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Too much caster will also push the bottom of the axle forward, increasing the likelihood of contact between the springs and swaybar. Where are you at on caster?

 

[mud4feet]

ya gotta get rid of all those batteries!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

JK, of course, Nick.

 

[Snitty]

If all else fails, those spacers are a good start.. you can bolt the spacers into the stock holes, and bolt the swaybar further toward the front of the vehicle on the spacers, moving the swaybar forward out of the way

 

[TwistedCU]

The 3" of lift with stock control arms will rotate your pinion upward a bit. This will cause the coil spring mounts to sit where a slight bow in the coil spring will occur. That, combined with the fact that your swaybar links are too short is what's happening.

You're fine with the stock control arms but you need longer links. As I stated in my first reply I had the very same problem and cured it with a set of $50 adjustable swaybar disconnects from Rough Country.

By the way, the manufactured swaybar dop brackets that I have seen move the swaybar both down and toward the front of the vehicle.

 

[XJNick]

Hi,

I agree.. get rid of the spacers.. if you yank them I bet they clear the springs fine.... Question: How much lift are you running?

No, I added the spacers to see if they would help. Even without the spacers, the sway bar hits (just at a slightly different angle). I'm running a 3" lift, but I'm not sure I really got 3" out of it after loading the batteries in the Motor compartment :wink:

Where are you at on caster?

I don't know

ya gotta get rid of all those batteries!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ah, so you want them? We can convert your Jeep to an EV, and then I have an excuse to get new batteries :mrgreen:

If all else fails, those spacers are a good start.. you can bolt the spacers into the stock holes, and bolt the swaybar further toward the front of the vehicle on the spacers, moving the swaybar forward out of the way

That is something I thought about as well...

This will cause the coil spring mounts to sit where a slight bow in the coil spring will occur. As I stated in my first reply I had the very same problem and cured it with a set of $50 adjustable swaybar disconnects from Rough Country.

Your right, I can see the springs bowing forward slightly (especially that passenger side one). Once I get over this miserable cold I got yesterday, I'll see about installing some longer links...

Thanks you everyone's for your advice :mrgreen:
-Nick :!:

 

[TwistedCU]

Just to let you know, those RC disconnects were very noisy. I'd suggest solid links and do a home made lynch pin type disconnect if you want quick disco's. That or a better quality set than the ones I had. The one thing nice about the disco's are most of them are adjustable.

Also, I'm not sure about '96 and earlier, but the '97 and newer LCA's have a bracket inside the main bracket. It is adjusted by the 2 bolts in the back of the bracket. There could be enough adjustment in there to straighten out your coils if your brackets are the same as mine. The bow gets slightly worse upon compression of the spring.