Clayton Off Road entry level 3.5" lift and JK trouble shooting

Review of lift kit and related suspension upgrades made to my 2013 Jeep JKU Rubicon 6-speed.

Started off with the Clayton Off Road Entry level 3.5” kit. I spoke with the guys on the phone before ordering and they could not have been more helpful. The install was very straight forward. The most frustrating/difficult part was messing around with the exhaust spacers (of course the pressed in nuts on the exhaust flange were rusty and the bolts broke so I had to drill out the pressed in nuts which was extremely frustrating because it was almost impossible to get a drill in there to do so. I ended up using a chipping hammer and was able to extract the pressed-in nuts. After a lot of swearing it was finally complete.) After installing the lift, I took the Jeep to ACE engineering where they put a set of Wrangler Duratrac 315 70r 17s on my stock Rubi wheels (w/ 1.5'' spacers). I had this same tire and size on my previous truck and absolutely love them. Great in the snow (I live in SE Michigan) and quite on the road. ACE took care of the alignment for me as well. The ride was great except for body roll/flighty steering… I will come back to this issue as this was nothing to do with the Clayton lift kit. The body roll/flighty steering issue continued. Part of me wasn’t sure if this was just how a lifted Jeep was supposed to drive or if I had an actual issue. It was noticeable at speeds as low as 40mph and was sketchy at best at highway speeds – I did not feel comfortable going over 65 mph on the freeway. It really felt like I was learning how to drive for the first time. What was odd is that the jeep felt most stable (at freeway speed) while turning… This did not stop me from going on 1500+ mile trip up to and around the UP. Did a lot of off-roading and really could not have been more impressed with the off-road ride quality of the Clayton kit and Fox 2.0 shocks. After getting home I did more research. I figured I’d benefit from a high steer/drag link flip kit to help with this issue. I went to Northridge4x4.com and purchased the JKS drag link flip kit. The JKS drag link flip kit was very easy to install and went in without a hitch (I'm glad I added bumpstops with the Clayton lift to avoid damage to the front track bar/frame). I then took it up to a local Firestone to get an alignment. After chewing the fat with the guy behind the counter I had found out that he used to work for AEV. I was more than excited to hear that because this guy knew how a lifted jeep should drive and I could not wait to hear his feedback as to what my issue could possibly be. The guy said the jeep drove great and was very complimentary of the beefiness of the Clayton system. The drag link flip kit did help a lot but I was still noticing some slight swaying/body roll on the freeway (the firestone guy did not take it on the freeway) - more still than I thought there should be. This sent me back to the world wide web and more research ensued. I wasn’t sure if I needed to beef up my rear sway bar or had had bad tie rod ends (even though firestone said that all that stuff was fine) and I began to accept the fact that this was just how a lifted jeep was supposed to drive, which was disappointing. A couple months past until one day I went to start my jeep and it was dead. 100% dead. The doors wouldn’t even unlock it was so dead. After giving it a jump, I noticed my sway bar light was flashing. This prompted some research. Apparently, all of the electronic sway bar disconnect systems on the Rubicon are prone to failure. In my research I was finding people with less than 10k miles having issues, mine had 44k. Water gets into the housing a causes some sort of short causing the battery to drain. After taking the Rubicon’s system off of the jeep I opened it up and watched as about 3oz of water drained out of it – there was my problem. I dried everything off, degreased all of the gears and housings, greased it all back up, put RTV on everything and put it back together with the hopes that it would work. It didn’t. One thing I did notice with the sway bar on my work bench, is that when assembled the electronic sway bar system has a lot of play in it… with one end of the sway bar clamped to the bench the other end would still travel about an inch. Keep in mind that this was in its ‘locked’ position. That was when the light bulb went on. I was not about to drop $1700 on a new electronic sway bar system that would eventually fail, I got a one-piece sway bar and some JKS Quicker Disconnects and called it a day. Once this was installed, all of the sway/body roll issues went away. That one inch of play/slop in the stock Rubi sway bar equated to a lot more once everything else was bolted to it allowing it to sway back and forth freely until that limit was reached then the sway bar would do its job. This would also explain why it felt more stable when turning. I could not be happier with a traditional sway bar up front. I hit 90mph on the freeway the other day and it was fine. Soooo much more stable, the drive is awesome and much better than stock. I am still glad I went the route of the high steer kit but if any of you are having an issue similar to mine, I highly recommend ripping out the shit electronic disconnect and going the traditional route. I also highly recommend the Clayton kit as well as the JKS products I installed. I installed the lift 9/1/16 and by 1/9/17 I am finally happy with the way it drives. It was a frustrating few months and it was because of forums like this I was able to troubleshoot all of the issues so, I figured I would post this with hope of being able to help anyone else out experiencing similar issues. I am not a certified mechanic by any means but other than the alignments and mounting the tires, I have done all of the work myself so feel free to ask any questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability. Thank you, Wayalife folks!
 

MR.Ty

Token East Coast Guy
Welcome to WAL!

Just to be clear, are you saying that by just placing your front sway bar links your body roll went away?
 

kpig

Member
So you replaced the sway bar and links, which solved your handling problems. Glad everything worked out for you. Perhaps you could give us a wave in that section. Welcome.
 
Welcome to WAL!

Just to be clear, are you saying that by just placing your front sway bar links your body roll went away?

No, I replaced the Rubicon electronic sway bar with a stock one piece traditional sway bar. That is what made the body roll go away. In addition I installed the Quicker Disconnects so I would still have the ability to disconnect the front sway bar if I wanted.
 

MR.Ty

Token East Coast Guy
No, I replaced the Rubicon electronic sway bar with a stock one piece traditional sway bar. That is what made the body roll go away. In addition I installed the Quicker Disconnects so I would still have the ability to disconnect the front sway bar if I wanted.

You had a lengthy post so I don't remember but did you take the sway bar motor apart and see if there was anything broken on the inside of the disconnect assembly?
 
I made it through, then blacked-out...[emoji43] I think the OP said all Rubicon equipped jeeps are no good.

hahaha just want to put it out there that I did not mean to imply that all Rubicon equipped jeeps are no good... its amazing how capable these vehicles are and I absolutely love driving mine. My disappointment/frustration was solely directed toward the failure prone electronic sway bar disconnect and how much play there was in that system. I am a recent, first time wrangler owner and do not know anyone else with one so I'm finding out this kind of quirky/problematic stuff as it happens...
 

AllAmericanInfidel

Caught the Bug
No, I replaced the Rubicon electronic sway bar with a stock one piece traditional sway bar. That is what made the body roll go away. In addition I installed the Quicker Disconnects so I would still have the ability to disconnect the front sway bar if I wanted.

Curious, why didn't you just replace the motor with the EVO no limits disconnect? That way you retain the Rubi swaybar and the ability to disconnect faster than removing end links. Was there actually something wrong with the sway bar, or was it just not connecting properly?


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
You had a lengthy post so I don't remember but did you take the sway bar motor apart and see if there was anything broken on the inside of the disconnect assembly?

haha no prob, I did take it apart and cleaned/degreased all of the gears and the housing, which gave me a great look at everything. It all looked OK from what I could tell...none of the teeth seemed mashed or were missing on the gears and I was able to get everything to work/engage manually before putting it all back together.
 
Curious, why didn't you just replace the motor with the EVO no limits disconnect? That way you retain the Rubi swaybar and the ability to disconnect faster than removing end links. Was there actually something wrong with the sway bar, or was it just not connecting properly?


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app

I almost pulled the trigger on the EVO no limits disconnect until I discovered the inherent inch of play in the system. I assumed that the EVO unit would not have corrected that play.. Maybe it would have though? Something could have been damaged on the stock rubi disconnect as well, being the 3rd owner I cant be 100% sure what this thing was put through before I got it.
 

zimm

Caught the Bug
That post makes my eyes hurt. Your first mod should be to fix the return button on your keyboard and research the definition of paragraph.
 

jeeeep

Hooked
the rubicon sway bar end links need to be at the same length so it will lock up, it they're not the same length then the sway bar may not lock up properly and you'll get sway.

when disengaged each side swings separate from the other.

but good you figured it out
 
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