Custom Sway Bar Disconnects.
 

Just made these up and thinking about selling them. Was wondering what you guys think of them and kind of probing to see if there would be any interest in them.

All the bolts are 1/2"-13 grade 8 bolts. The plate on top is 1/4" flat stock. The threaded rod is also super high strength and the heim joints are rated for 9,100 pounds each. Heim and rod is 1/2"-20.

How much would you guys be willing to pay for these, and do you think they need improvement?

On the right is a Rough Country disconnect. I broke two pairs of them in under a year. Mine are obviously on the left.


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$60 seems like a good price point depending on how well they'll hold up

Maybe 45-50 Id be interested in a set

I'd say 40-50 depending if they hold up nicely

yeah 40-50 seems about right

I'd also be interested in a set of those. I'd be willing to pay somewhere around $50-$60 depending on what the cost would be to ship them.

What did it run you to make those the look pretty good

That's the problem. All of your quotes have actually been under what it actually costs to make them.

Grade 8 bolts are bloody expensive. I could obviously cheap out and buy cheaper bolts to lower the cost but I don't think that's the solution.

Here's a parts list so you can actually see the breakdown.

DIY Sway-Bar Quick Disconnects:

4x – 1/2”-20 Heim Joints. (With Zerc Fitting.) - $6.98 Ea. (Rated @ 9,100 pounds each.)
10x 1/2”-20 Lock Nuts. - $0.43 Ea.
2x Reusable Cotter Pin - $0.76 Ea.
2x Grade 8 1/2”-20 Bolt. 2” Long. (All Threads.) - $4.06 Ea.
2x 12” Long 1/2”-20 Threaded Rod. - $10.41 (For 2'.)
4x Grade 8 1/2”-20 Bolt. 3 1/2” Long. (1” Shank.) $4.39 Ea.
4x 1/2” Collar. - $1.33 Ea.

On top of this you need to get a 1 1/2” wide (3/16” or 1/4” thick) 6” long flat bar and bend it into shape. You need to bend it in a “U” shape and each section needs to be 2” long. You can use a vice, some heat ,and a BFH. I just use a break. Should look like this “I_I” with every side being 2”.

You're also going to need to drill three holes through it. One to hold the Heim Joint in place, and one to bolt the bracket to the actual sway bar.

Not sure how much the flat bar actually costs, as I get it for free from the local machine shop.

Total: $75.15.

I work in a fabrication shop
Myself. It's very hard to build stuff cheap IN MASS QUANITIES yeah using scrap makes them cheap for the first few sets then once your outta scrap then it's money out of pocket and alot of people don't understand how expensive it is for 20ft pieces lol not to mention shipping.

Personally I think they look great and if I had the money to spend I'd pay 100 plus shipping for these bad boys cause rough country's do suck lol

Good luck man! Nice product!

Yeah I figured that out. I think I can cram these into a USPS flat rate envelope and ship them for like $6.

I'm not trying to become the next bill gates with these. Just trying to make an extra buck.

I could stop using grade 8 bolts but I don't want to sacrifice the strength of them.

I have enough scrap to make 100 of these. Doubt ill sell that many.

Thanks dude!

I was thinking about trying to sell for like $100-105 shipped ($5) for shipping and make like $20 each in profit.

Just thought id show what they cost to make so no one thinks I'm trying to make a huge profit.

Nicely done! Those look really good.

You could get away with using a lower grade bold seems all the other company's do and there charging 150+ for the same style of disconnect.
Have you thought about hitting up one of the wrangler forums they have the money lol.

Where did you get the heim joints from? I have a set on my truck and the heims look like they are wearing out/loose and I might try to replace them. Hope the thread is the a pretty standard size. need to measure. Thanks.

Looks good! Might make a good seller

Thank you!

Are they really? I just wanted to make them as strong as i could. I mean i don't want someone emailing me going "Sway bar disconnect bolt exploded and the bolt went flying through my engine and it's totaled."

You reckon just 1/2" bolts would work? I could obviously lower the price some if i used cheaper bolts.

No i haven't been to a wrangler forum yet. Haha.

McMaster-carr. Here's the link;

http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/119/1181/=m9lapd


I'm hoping. Would like to make a few extra bucks. Trying to be honest with my profits as i'm not trying to rip anyone off here, just trying to make a good product that people will appreciate.

I hear ya there Im working on tail light guards and wanna do the same thing as you man. Best of luck to you! :)

Best of luck to you as well man!

Got some more bolts and what not. Should be able to perfect one of them now and then copy that for the rest of them.

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Thanks man :) and sounds good if they hold up like they look like they will Ill def get a set from u

Get em goin and when your ready to ship I'll put em on my rig.

So the consensus is to get rid of grade 8 bolts and use cheaper bolts and then lower the price accordingly and people would be more interested in them?

When I get home today ill price them out with regular bolts.

I think the grade 8 bolt should be an option if the buyer would like them for the extra price. I know I would like to gave them for the added strength.

Good idea.


Ill calculate the difference between grade 8 and regular bolts when I get home and have an updated price. Probably like $20 or so cheaper but I can't be sure until I actually calculate it.

Thanks for all the replies. Do you need to pay to be a vendor on this website or no?

Just a thought, but threaded rod is expensive and with a die set, you could buy some shafting (4140), cut them to length and thread the ends. More labor intensive, but would save a LOT of money. Just my .02 cents worth.

I was thinking this myself. I just like the threaded rod because its more adjustable.

I do have a 1/2"-20 thread tap. I'm going to actually look into that as well as I can lower the price more if I'm saving money.

I just need to know one thing;

How should the swaybar be hooked up? Should it be level or be pitched up or down? I want to make sure when I start taking measurement I take them with the swaybar in the correct position.

I believe the sway bar needs to be flat to work properly. On another note here is a pretty good article talking about bolt Grades http://www.rockcrawler.com/techrepor...ners/index.asp

Mines a daily driver the reasons I like these is, grade 8s, and adjustable. Thats my .02

Another thing you can do is buy a long 1/2" x 12" grade 8 bolt, cut the head off and thread that end. You can buy a 1/2" x 12" grade 8 bolt at the boltdepot for $8.40, but their bulk prices are way cheaper. I've built lots of studs at work this way when we've needed them. Bulk price for the same bolt is $64.65 for 10 or $593 for a hundred.

Well, just went ahead and re-calculated it all.

I did not calculate the cost of the flat bar, or the paint, or the quick disconnect pin into the cost. - Just the hardware. (bolts, washers, locknuts, etc etc.)

Sure i could of used all regular nuts and no lock nuts, but i'm trying to make a good product here. I could of skimped out on washers as well, but why?

I was going to calculate it with just grade 5 bolts, but i went ahead and opted to use type 316 stainless steel. It won't rust this way, and will be a better product. Once again, me being me, and making things better.

I added a $20 profit (which honestly i don't think is bad at all) to the cost which brings it to a grand total of $87.21 shipped. I'm thinking $90 shipped is fair. Shipping is through USPS and will be at your doorstep within 2-3 business days of shipping.

Hopefully you guys can see that i'm not being unfair with prices here. Best part about these is that they're 100% adjustable. If the threaded rod i ship becomes too short (you lift it more) you can go to home depot and buy more rod and screw it in and they're good to go again.

If anyone can see a way for me to cut material costs and drop the price some i'm all ears.

Will re-calculate the cost of these with Grade 8 bolts after i go pickup my pizza. (i think i miscalculated them before.)

Total for disconnects with type 316 stainless steel - $90 shipped.

Will have pictures of the final product up Monday. I'm waiting for an order to ship in so i can put them together.

Here's a scanned in copy of my parts list so you can see the breakdown.

Attachment 345041

Not bad there and honestly if these hold up as well as they look like they will (not saying I dout their strength) and you sell a few you can raise the price with the positive feed back you will most likely get to where you have 25-40 in profit and be the preferred discos in the xj world :)

That would be sweet.

A $30-35 profit would be nice, but we can all dream. I just need to find a way to really beat the hell out of these and record it to show that they hold up (or break) haha.

How do these brackets look to you? See any flaws?

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Looks like 12-16ga steel right? I like that they are bent not welded personally. I dont see an issue with them really unless you manage to bend them.

1/4" plate. Not sure what gauge that is.

Yeah I like the bent part better as well. Takes literally about 10 seconds in the break at work to bend them like that.

Break is capable of bending up to 3/4" plate so if for some reason 1/4" isn't strong enough I can up it again.

I just need a way to beat the piss out of these to text them. What stresses these? Flexing?

Sweet. Those look great, Are the threaded rod just your standard stuff like they use in construction for hanging pipes? That is really the only place I see any weakness in the design, the rest is badass.

Thank you!

It's grade b7 threaded rod. I can't find a 1/2"-13 heim joint for the life of me (can only find 1/2"-20). If i can find one of those, i can use grade 8 threaded rod (rated for 150,000 PSI). The stuff i'm using is 1/2"-20 threaded rod rated at 125,000 PSI.

I need to find a way to test these things. How would i stress a sway bar link? Flex the jeep with them connected?

I was thinking about using 1/2" DOM tubing, and just threading the ends. We'll see though.

Go wheeling with them connected and do so hard quick flexing like wen one tire suddenly falls off a rock :) just think your trying to separate or bust a shock lol

Dude I think they'll be fine its not like the threaded rod is 20" long or anything. I was just curios if there was rating on that stuff. The whole idea is to disconect whenleaving the road. so the worst action it would really see is Illinois toll road pot holes.

Lol I tend to forget to take mine off at my hunting club since I have to run the blacktop to catch the dogs.

Well got a few pairs of brackets made up. Got the bolts ready. Just waiting for the heim joints to ship in, and then i need to find people who are interested in buying them. Haha.

Here's a picture of my current supply. I'm making more brackets daily.


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Got them finished. Anyone got any clues on where abouts i should try to begin to sell these at?

Pictures are them.


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Those don't look too bad man... I have a set of the JKS ones but they are getting pretty beat up. How much are you going to try and sell them for?

I would list them in the "For sale" section in the apropriate area.