Here is a pic my son sent me of his sway bar on 1999 Cherokee Sport.

What is the effect on the drive?

Is there a safety consequence to the missing bushings?

Thanks as always!

more sway in the corners. its a safety/control feature. if you are traveling at speed and steer to avoid something or someone it could cause an accident. you dont need it to drive, but if you primarily drive on road i would recommend making it right.

you might be able to take up some of that slack with bushings, which i imagine are pretty cheap. also, since that looks as worn as it is you may want to take a close look at your other linkages to ensure they dont fail at the wrong time.

And they are going to click and rattle.

A sway bar is designed to reduce body roll in cornering and sharp high speed maneuvers. When the outside wheel moves up in a corner, it pulls the inside wheel up as well keeping the body flat. The thicker the bar, the less body roll. Some massive bars are actually hollow, lightening the weight but still keeping the torsional strength. For off-road use, where suspension flexing is needed, there are quick disconnect links for this purpose.

Without the sway bar, a sudden sharp turn can allow the body to move too much weight to the outside of the corner and make you loose control. Like a swerve to miss a deer!