Factory Height Sway Bar Disconnect
 

Im working on a project to make a very capable XJ but with minimum lift and keep a factory look to the vehicle. So for a little help with the suspension we have added new factory height coils and springs, 1" rear boomerang shackles and 3/4" front spacers. We then decided to add a sway bar disconnect but there is not one offer in a factory height, most come for 3"'s of lift or more.

Well Jeff at Rockridge4WD came up with the idea for us to get a Rough Country disconnect set and cut it down to length and rethread the it.... The rough country is the only disconnect that it could be done with due to its design.

Oh you may ask why..we plan to add full skids, frame stiffeners, beef up the driveline & axles and lock the front and rear. A willys didnt have large tires and suspension...look where they could go...now a close to stock looking cherokee built right may be able to amaze onthe trail..A Sleeper :)

Well we started the install yesterday with the front coils, spacers, and rough country sway bar disconnects...

So here it is..

Just a few inches difference, about 5...

http://jrozar.smugmug.com/Jeep/Chero...ar%20002-M.jpg

http://jrozar.smugmug.com/Jeep/Chero...ar%20001-M.jpg

Cutting it down....

http://jrozar.smugmug.com/Jeep/Chero...ar%20004-M.jpg

Got them to length

http://jrozar.smugmug.com/Jeep/Chero...ar%20007-M.jpg

Installed

http://jrozar.smugmug.com/Jeep/Chero...ar%20008-M.jpg

Nice. Good thinking there.

Nicely done, looks great....love the sleeper idea

I saw a video awhile back of a stock height yj with upgraded axles, great undercarriage protection on 30's do a trail section as smooth as a rock buggy the was 80K to build. It made me think really how much is needed? I look back to when I started wheeling and 33's were big... We were doing hard trails then, but we used more skill and finesse, these days a soccer mom can go buy an off the shelf rig that can do 99% of the trails. So why can't I build a solid XJ that looks stock that can run most trails? We seem to always end up over building and turning our comfortable vehicle / daily driver in to something just for the trails that we may go on 20% of the operating time. One of my YJs I hardly ever put in 4low, since I have manual hubs I run it in 2low and I cam off a trail here in Vegas and two guys were airing back up. They asked what psi did I air down to? I smiled and said I'm at street pressure (which I was) and rolled on by.

I always think back to the WW2 Willys......how much suspension travel did they have and how big were the tires? But they went just about anywhere.