TJ Rear sway bar with Claytons LA's

[Ted_Z]

When you install the Claytons LA kit you are forced to remove the rear factory sway bar. Most people don't notice it missing, but I drive my ZJ to the trail and would rather have the additional stability on the highway.

The ZJ factory rear sway bar is body mounted, but the TJ bar is axle mounted. Here's a quick summary of how it all goes together.

Factory TJ sway bar



2" wide spring perches with 3/8" holes drilled to mount sway bar bushings.



Swap link from outside to inside.




Spring perch welded to housing



Upper bracket welded to unibody on factory upper CA mount (part of mount was previously cut off).



Sway bar installed




A bit of grinding was required on the 8.8 housing to clear since the 8.8 pumpkin is offet. Alternatively you could raise the mounts a bit. (I wish I had noticed the interference before is was all welded up, I would have raise the mounts)

[MrFreeze5]

Looks great! I was thinking about doing something along these lines. My ZJ is getting rebuilt to be more road friendly. Im setting up my 8.8 now and was considering using the exploder mounts on the backs of the axle, but I like your setup MUCH better. I even have a set of TJ sway bars that i got for free to possibly use on my Willys. Now if I could just weld worth a damn...

[BigDaveZJ]

Nice, good info! Only issue I might run into is after tearing both rear UCA mounts off the unibody I might need to do more than just weld the mount on like that.

[OverkillZJ]

That's similar to how I did it on mine, you'll enjoy it a lot more in off camber situations now.

[zj-monster]

Sweet! Damn good write up. I vote for this going to the FAQ's section for quick reference finding.

My 8.8 is still sitting in my garage, so I'm glad I'm still waiting to put that sucker in.

[BigDaveZJ]

I vote for this going to the FAQ's section for quick reference finding.

Done!

[OverlandXJ]

Ted, how is this working out for you? Are you finding it too soft or stiff? I'm wondering if an LJ might have a larger diameter swaybar..

Do you disconnect when you hit the trailhead?

[Sudz]

old threads never die


John, stop by and check out my setup when you're in the neighborhood - I keep it connected all the time, it survived 2 trips to moab and numerous thrashings at RC - tied the upper end into the stock upper mount at the 'frame'

stock TJ swaybar

[Sudz]

found a few more

[OverlandXJ]

Found that LJ and TJ's use the same rear swaybar.

Ron, I had forgotten it was you who first mentioned this mod. I will try to stop by soon.

[Ted_Z]

It worked great when I used it. While I still have the TJ sway bar still installed on the axle side, I leave it disconnected now. In the end I was too lazy to unbolt the links all the time since I don't have quick disconnects on the rear. That said, a lot of guys wheel with the rear bar hooked up to help on off camber situations.

[cLAYH]

Thanks for the pics. I have a Rubicon rear axle that I'll be putting into my 5.9ZJ and have a TJ Addco rear sway bar to go with it. Has anyone tried a TJ Addco rear sway bar? I broke two of the stock ones on my last build.