My Jeep has a bunch of small problems... (More like nuisances) That I'd like to work out... This is one of them. (Whose Jeep doesn't have small problems with it?)

Every time I disconnect my sway bar for offroading I spend 10-20 minutes trying to put it back on because it's not even close to lining up on its' own. I put the bolt in on one side and the other side is off by about 3 inches. So far the only way I've been able to get it back on is to put the bolt in on one side and use a pry bar on it to bend the other side down until it lines up. My guess is that the sway bar is bent. Has anybody else experienced this? If so, how did you fix it?

I was thinking of just getting a sway bar from the junkyard and seeing if it fixes the problem, but sway bars are a PITA to remove the first time, and I'd rather not spend money on something that wont even fix the problem.

 

Does the Jeep sit level with the swaybar disconnected? Drop links the same length?

Rob

 

X2^^^^^^^^

 

As far as I know it sits level. If not, it's not far enough off to notice. The links are the same length; I had them sitting next to eachother when I got them.

 

The anti-sway bar is always under a load w/ mounted, it's a torsion spring.

 

Here's a pic of my lift laid out on my kitchen floor when I got it. You can see the links are the same length.

 

I disagree, with the Jeep on a level surface and all springs in good condition, there should be minimal load on the swaybar.

It's easy enough to take the SB off and lay it on a flat surface to check true.

Rob

 

This coming week I should be swapping out my front axle so I will check it then if I remember. (Which I should once I try to hook it back up and it doesn't line up.) I'd really rather not pull it off right now though... It's a major PITA to put back on. It should lay flat on the ground though, correct?

 

If you lay the SB on a flat surface, it'll be obvious if it's 3" out of true.

Rob

 

Ok. So there are no bends in it besides the obvious ones that would make it hard to tell if the sway bar is bent and not actually supposed to look like whatever I see when I take it off?

P.S. I just thought of a great idea. I'm going to paint my new axle and all of the stock steering/suspension parts before I put it all on. It's much easier to clean/prep/paint off of the vehicle.

 

Lay the bar down in the reverse way to this pic;

http://www.fourwheeler.com/projectbu.../photo_17.html

The middle section should be flat on the floor and the two ends touching the floor.

Rob

 

With both end links disconnected is the bar "true" (level)?

 

I'll give that a shot when I pull my axle next week. Thanks