Lateral stress on sway bar mounts

The sway bar discos that came with the lift kit on my XJ are too tall - They
bottom out on the fenderwell. I re-installed the stock links, but I would
still like to have removeable links. The sway bar connects to the axle by
the bottom of the link. The bottom of the link rides on a bolt that passes
thru a bracket on the axle. The bolt has a 17mm head and is pretty easy to
remove/re-install with two wrenches.

What I want to do its buy a new bolt of the same size, but longer. Without
threads would be ideal. Drill a hole in the center of the bolt, and insert a
locking pin that came with my Skyjacker sway bar discos. This would allow me
to pull the pin, and slide the bolt out, thus allowing for a budget easy
sway bar disco without the need for wrenches.

I'm concerned about the amount of lateral stress put on the bolt. The
bracket on the axle cradles the bottom of the sway bar end link and looks
like it holds all the lateral movement, while the bushing/bolt combination
manages the vertical and fore/aft load.

Does anyone know how much lateral stress is put on the bottom bolt? I don't
want one pin breaking off and leaving me with half an anti sway system. Am I
crazy?

Thanks,

Carl

Not my auction, purchase at your own risk.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

-Brian

"Carl Saiyed" > wrote in message
...
> The sway bar discos that came with the lift kit on my XJ are too tall -
> They
> bottom out on the fenderwell. I re-installed the stock links, but I would
> still like to have removeable links. The sway bar connects to the axle by
> the bottom of the link. The bottom of the link rides on a bolt that passes
> thru a bracket on the axle. The bolt has a 17mm head and is pretty easy to
> remove/re-install with two wrenches.
>
> What I want to do its buy a new bolt of the same size, but longer. Without
> threads would be ideal. Drill a hole in the center of the bolt, and insert
> a
> locking pin that came with my Skyjacker sway bar discos. This would allow
> me
> to pull the pin, and slide the bolt out, thus allowing for a budget easy
> sway bar disco without the need for wrenches.
>
> I'm concerned about the amount of lateral stress put on the bolt. The
> bracket on the axle cradles the bottom of the sway bar end link and looks
> like it holds all the lateral movement, while the bushing/bolt combination
> manages the vertical and fore/aft load.
>
> Does anyone know how much lateral stress is put on the bottom bolt? I
> don't
> want one pin breaking off and leaving me with half an anti sway system. Am
> I
> crazy?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Carl
>
>
>
>

Hi Carl,

You won't need much of a pin to hold your link - very little lateral
stress. You should, however, ensure that your swaybar arms are within 5
degrees of OEM specs when the vehicle is at rest on a level surface:

http://www.jksmfg.com/images/swaybar...20XJ_proof.jpg

Using OEM links with a lift may pull your swaybar arms too low. If the
links you got with your Skyjacker kit are wrong, why not return them and
exchange for some that fit?

Steve
http://xjeep.dyndns.org


Carl Saiyed wrote:
> The sway bar discos that came with the lift kit on my XJ are too tall - They
> bottom out on the fenderwell. I re-installed the stock links, but I would
> still like to have removeable links. The sway bar connects to the axle by
> the bottom of the link. The bottom of the link rides on a bolt that passes
> thru a bracket on the axle. The bolt has a 17mm head and is pretty easy to
> remove/re-install with two wrenches.
>
> What I want to do its buy a new bolt of the same size, but longer. Without
> threads would be ideal. Drill a hole in the center of the bolt, and insert a
> locking pin that came with my Skyjacker sway bar discos. This would allow me
> to pull the pin, and slide the bolt out, thus allowing for a budget easy
> sway bar disco without the need for wrenches.
>
> I'm concerned about the amount of lateral stress put on the bolt. The
> bracket on the axle cradles the bottom of the sway bar end link and looks
> like it holds all the lateral movement, while the bushing/bolt combination
> manages the vertical and fore/aft load.
>
> Does anyone know how much lateral stress is put on the bottom bolt? I don't
> want one pin breaking off and leaving me with half an anti sway system. Am I
> crazy?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Carl

Sheesh! www.mcmaster.com has those pins for $.85 each in packs of 10. Or
go to any hardware store with the displays of specialty hardware.

Cherokee-Ltd wrote:

> Not my auction, purchase at your own risk.
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW
>
> -Brian
>
> "Carl Saiyed" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>The sway bar discos that came with the lift kit on my XJ are too tall -
>>They
>>bottom out on the fenderwell. I re-installed the stock links, but I would
>>still like to have removeable links. The sway bar connects to the axle by
>>the bottom of the link. The bottom of the link rides on a bolt that passes
>>thru a bracket on the axle. The bolt has a 17mm head and is pretty easy to
>>remove/re-install with two wrenches.
>>
>>What I want to do its buy a new bolt of the same size, but longer. Without
>>threads would be ideal. Drill a hole in the center of the bolt, and insert
>>a
>>locking pin that came with my Skyjacker sway bar discos. This would allow
>>me
>>to pull the pin, and slide the bolt out, thus allowing for a budget easy
>>sway bar disco without the need for wrenches.
>>
>>I'm concerned about the amount of lateral stress put on the bolt. The
>>bracket on the axle cradles the bottom of the sway bar end link and looks
>>like it holds all the lateral movement, while the bushing/bolt combination
>>manages the vertical and fore/aft load.
>>
>>Does anyone know how much lateral stress is put on the bottom bolt? I
>>don't
>>want one pin breaking off and leaving me with half an anti sway system. Am
>>I
>>crazy?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Carl
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>

What I did on my 88 XJ was to keep the existing bolt, change the
locking nut to a regular nut, cross drill the bolt for a hairpin clip
to retain the regular nut. As long as you use a nut of the same
quality/grade there is no difference from stock. Mine held up for
about 8 years then we sold the XJ.

Thanks for all the responses. I'll be making my own quick-discos. The reason
I can't return them is that they are the smallest set Skyjacker makes. I'll
save them for my next lift or sell them later. I only have a 2" lift on my
XJ so the sway bars position should be OK.

Thanks again,

Carl


"Steve" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Carl,
>
> You won't need much of a pin to hold your link - very little lateral
> stress. You should, however, ensure that your swaybar arms are within 5
> degrees of OEM specs when the vehicle is at rest on a level surface:
>
> http://www.jksmfg.com/images/swaybar...20XJ_proof.jpg
>
> Using OEM links with a lift may pull your swaybar arms too low. If the
> links you got with your Skyjacker kit are wrong, why not return them and
> exchange for some that fit?
>
> Steve
> http://xjeep.dyndns.org
>
>
> Carl Saiyed wrote:
> > The sway bar discos that came with the lift kit on my XJ are too tall -
They
> > bottom out on the fenderwell. I re-installed the stock links, but I
would
> > still like to have removeable links. The sway bar connects to the axle
by
> > the bottom of the link. The bottom of the link rides on a bolt that
passes
> > thru a bracket on the axle. The bolt has a 17mm head and is pretty easy
to
> > remove/re-install with two wrenches.
> >
> > What I want to do its buy a new bolt of the same size, but longer.
Without
> > threads would be ideal. Drill a hole in the center of the bolt, and
insert a
> > locking pin that came with my Skyjacker sway bar discos. This would
allow me
> > to pull the pin, and slide the bolt out, thus allowing for a budget easy
> > sway bar disco without the need for wrenches.
> >
> > I'm concerned about the amount of lateral stress put on the bolt. The
> > bracket on the axle cradles the bottom of the sway bar end link and
looks
> > like it holds all the lateral movement, while the bushing/bolt
combination
> > manages the vertical and fore/aft load.
> >
> > Does anyone know how much lateral stress is put on the bottom bolt? I
don't
> > want one pin breaking off and leaving me with half an anti sway system.
Am I
> > crazy?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Carl