JK Wrangler Rear Sway Bar Shift Budget Fix

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
If you're running a lift on your Jeep JK Wrangler and flex out the suspension on a regular basis, you may find that your rear sway bar had a tendency to shift to one side or the other. For the most part, this is no big deal but in some cases, the sway bar can shift enough to where the arms and or link ends catch on the frame causing a loud noise or sometimes even your brakes hard and/or soft lines causing damage to them. Fortunately, there is a cheap easy fix for this and this write-up should be able to help you out.

What you will need
(2) 11/16" Diameter Extra-Grip Two-Piece Clamp-on Shaft Collar
• 1/4" Allen Wrench
• Pry Bar
• Frame Paint

Installation
Here's a photo of what the Extra-Grip Two-Piece Clamp-on Shaft Collar will look like.
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1. The shaft collars that I bought are black-oxide steel and while they do offer some corrosion resistance, they will develop some surface rust over time, even in the best of conditions. Because of this, I elected to spray some frame paint prior to installation.
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2. If needed, use a pry bar to help you pull your JK rear sway bar back to center again. As you can see, I am running a factory JK rear sway bar on my EVO Lever but the process will be the same for a JK with standard factory setup.
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3. Place the 2 halves of the shaft collars on to your JK's rear sway bar and up against the inside of the driver side frame mounted bushing as shown in the photo below. Use an 1/4" allen wrench to secure them in place.
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4. Repeat step 3 on the passenger side of your Jeep.
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Finally, here's a photo from further back to show what the shaft collars will look like installed on your JK rear sway bar. As you can see, they are hardly noticeable.
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That's it! Your JK rear sway bar should now stay put and no longer shift around. Because I chose to order up a set of Extra-Grip shaft collars, they ended up costing me $26 but, you can use standard shaft collars and they will cost less. I ordered my shaft collars from McMaster Carr and the part number for them was #8386K38. They are sold individually so you will need to order 2 of them. I hope this helps you out. :cool:
 

CJW

New member
Cool idea. Thanks for sharing. I think I'll try something like this on my front end too. That one seems to shift over time just driving around.
 

mcsjk

New member
Nice write-up Eddie. Haven't had this happen to me but now I have an easy fix in case it does.

Also, I could look at that EvoLever all day. Such an awesome and creative piece of engineering.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I believe the front sway bar is 1.25" in diameter. For that, you would need either a standard clamp collar #6436K74 ($10.26 each) or an extra grip collar #8386K13 ($14.41 each).
 

KenB1010

New member
Eddie, do you think a bronze bushing placed between the collar and sway bar mount would be helpful? I used this fix on an early Porsche several years ago and used a bronze bushing to prevent binding. I don't know if binding would be an issue in JK applications.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Eddie, do you think a bronze bushing placed between the collar and sway bar mount would be helpful? I used this fix on an early Porsche several years ago and used a bronze bushing to prevent binding. I don't know if binding would be an issue in JK applications.

I never found it necessary on my old TJ and so far, I haven't seen a need for it on my JK. However, I will keep an eye on things and will add to this thread if it becomes apparent that a bushing is needed.
 

Armydog

New member
Eddie, the front sway bar on my TJ gets off centered from time to time even though I disconnect when planning to go off road. Would something like this work for the front TJ factory sway? Different diameter than what you just did, I think. Does the rear sway bar shift on the TJ as well? And is it the same diameter as the JK?? Thanks in advance
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Eddie, the front sway bar on my TJ gets off centered from time to time even though I disconnect when planning to go off road. Would something like this work for the front TJ factory sway? Different diameter than what you just did, I think. Does the rear sway bar shift on the TJ as well? And is it the same diameter as the JK?? Thanks in advance

Here's a write-up I did for my old TJ over 10 years ago.
http://www.4x4xplor.com/swaybar-fix.html

This should help you out. :cool:
 
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