TStango

Everyone knows how IFS sucks in general and sucks even more with the front anti-swaybar connected while offroad. I'm not going to get into how much it does or doesn't help because there are LONG posts about this on YT. But from my experience, I know that I will not wheel with the front swaybar connected. To me it's the equivalant of walking without bending your knees. Your head just thrashes left and right.

The smooth ride you get from disconnecting the SB is great for offroad but driving on the road is a little different. THe steering response just isn't the same and if you are on the highway and have to react quickly, you are at a huge disadvantage.

I've been running homemade (Larsdennart from YT) SB disconnects for many years now and they were great for a while but the wing nut system to attach and detach them from the SB is a pain in the ass. Despite all my efforts to keep mine painted and greased, they would still become noisy and rusty and almost impossible to remove on two occasions. That's New England for ya.

After having installed a couple of lifts on Jeeps over the past few years, I came across these JKS quicker disconnects which are greasable. They are a little pricy at $125 but are pretty nice. The pin that mounts to the axle is tapered and large so I knew that it would be a stretch to get them to work on my IFS 3rd Gen 4Runner.
So I ordered a short pair and figured I'd give it a shot. Here's the part number:

JK2002 JKS Quicker Disconnects for XJ/ZJ (Small)

Here's the problem:



The flange on the lower A arm is angled. Because of this, the end of the pin is too close to allow the disconnect to slide on.

Solution: Angled spacers



I made these from a 1" x 1" piece of aluminum with a 9/16" hole drilled thru the middle. (Lower A-arm flange needs to be drilled out to 9/16 also). This was all that was needed to align the pin.











Here is a picture of them in the stored position. Zip ties work well. YOu just have to pull the swaybar up to keep it away from the steering.



I checked for clearance with the steering at full lock. No problems.

Blizzard

Nice!

David

lee

as i said on ne4roc, good stuff mang

you need to take a hose to that truck of yours! if you let it cake that good for too long youll have a rustbucket in no time

midiwall

Holy crap... Talk about Beefy! NICE!

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Nice work and creativity.

Two things I see that are a drawback...

You had to drill out the lower mount to 9/16" and

You didn't remove the link but zip tied it up. That is asking for trouble in my opinion when you can take that top nut off with the same amount of time it takes you to zip tie things up and remove the link.

EDIT: Those bolts also appear to be less than Grade 8/10.9

TStango

Good points waskilly.
Yeah these will definitely need to be put to the test. As for the zip ties, not sure how I feel about this either. The links come with a pin that you can mount up high somewhere to retain everything. That will require drilling and tapping and last night wasn't the time for me to start on that. I'll have to try mounting those at some point.
Also as far as grade 8/10.9 - definitely not. but I think these are holding up pretty well on the Jeeps. We shall see.

Hey Lee, when are you coming down to help me wash my truck??? I can't find a high pressure do it yourself carwash where I now live. WTF is up with that?

Gerdo

I know that you can get more articulation on a solid axle jeep TJ. Does it help to disco on IFS? I know someone on this forum came to his own conclusion that it is better to keep the SB connected. What is the verdict, disco or not?

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Depends on who you ask.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f31/quick-disconnects-sway-bar-discos-truth-vs-fiction-99019/

sschaefer3

Someone came to the conclusion that is does not matter if you disconnect it or not. Do it if you like that feel, but don't be surprised if the guy with it connected does everything you do.

Disconnecting with a straight axle is the way to go. With IFS do it or don't, it's not going to matter either way.

Gerdo

I read the link that WW attached. Thanks. I have a set of JKS discos like TStango has sitting in my garage and wasn't sure if it was worth the time/energy to mount them. Just one more thing to do when wheeling. Doesn't sound like it matters.

sschaefer3

I have the ultimate disconnects on my 1990 IFS Mini Pickup.

They are called an ARB RD90.

Albuquerque Jim

I have that Disco too, and ever since it has been installed the anti-sway bar has remained attached.

TStango

Someone with access to an RTI ramp or something like it should measure what the actual difference is.

sschaefer3

I did years ago. You can go higher, a little bit with the bar disconnected.

But you guys are not seeing the big picture here. It's IFS and the entire thing with IFS is not RTI scores it's weight distribution.

With IFS you only have the weight of the truck on ONE of the front tires at a time, which ever one is more compressed. With a Straight Axle, you have the weight of the truck on both tires all the time.

With IFS a front locker is a God Sent. With a Straight Axle as long as you keep both tires on the ground you can run it open. Even if both IFS tires are touching the ground the only tire that is going to get good traction is the compressed one, the dropped/unloaded one does not have enough weight on it to press on the ground and get traction. See how the SA keeps traction all the time. Unfortunately the Web Wheelers have turned the SA into some ramp champ/web cool tool. It's all about putting traction to the ground.

If none of you guys with IFS have driven a Straight Axle truck, you should. Be it a Jeep, Ford, Chevy, Suzuki whatever. The "feel" is completely different and you will understand. It's like the disconnected "feel" you get with the front bar disconnected, but you won't pitch and lean nearly as much as an IFS truck does.

So yeah you can go another inch up an RTI ramp but your still going to have the same issues out on the trail as a guy who has sway bar connected.

I have an IFS truck, a 1990 Pickup. On whopping 28" tires. I'll take it out with an IFS truck with a disconnected bar and I can show you time and time again. In the real world both trucks will run the same obstacles with the same effort.

Like I have said a million times, there is a far better sway bar and end links, but it involves welding. Apparently that scares everyone off. Bar bolts on but you will have to make and weld tabs on your lower a-arms. Really short end links that will not bind. Another problem with the disconnects that have been offered is that they bind far sooner than the stock end links, so if you are wheeling with a link connected any other than the stock ones, yeah it's really gonna suck.

If you really want to make your IFS truck work better, an ARB RD90 or a Straight Axle Conversion will "really" do that.

This will be my last post on the subject. It's now just beating a dead dog.

TStango

Exactly. Traction aside, disconnecting the front anti-sway bar on IFS lessens this pitch and lean by allowing one front tire to stuff more easily. In turn the rear tire on the same side as that front tire will remain on the ground a little more often. Less pitch and lean by pulling two pins is easy enough for me.

TStango

JKS disconnects revisted:

Getting an email about this post has prompted me to follow up and change my opinion on using JKS disconnect on this application.

Here was my response to some general questions :

I sold my 4runner to my cousin almost 2 years ago and the JKS disconnects are still installed. I helped him a few months ago by making some repairs to the 4Runner. One of the items I worked on was tightening up the mounting nut of the JKS disconnect Pin that attaches to the lower A-arm on the passenger side. It had loosened and was flopping around making lots of noise. I tightened it using an impact gun and it seems to be holding up. He uses the 4Runner strictly as a daily driver and other than that one issue, the disconnects have been holding up ok and are quiet. I did notice that they have rusted pretty badly over the past few years. Not sure how much longer they will last. I applied grease to the grease fittings which is one nice feature.

As far as ease of use when wheeling....here is my limited experience.... I actually disconnected the sway bar with these disconnects only twice before selling the 4Runner. I remember having a hard time getting them disconnected. I think its because of the fact that the top mount has limited movement. The movement that it does allow for is slightly in the wrong direction not allowing the lower mount to slide off the pin easily. The other problem is the lower pivoting mount is a little too larger for the space on the lower control arm where the pin is mounted. It does fit there, but if the disconnect where to twist, it can slightly rub metal to metal.
The zip ties work for keeping the disconnects out of the way but the entire sway bar needs to be rotated up to stay out of the way. The problem with that is there is no guarantee the bar will stay in that position. I didn't have any problems on those two occasions but was probably just lucky. I found that the zip ties were a hassle.
For disconnects I'd have to say that I don't recommend them on this application because they aren't all that easy to use. I would look into a version that allows you to completely remove them. I once had a set and I think "Waskilly Wabbit" makes them now.
Thanks for emailing me because I have been meaning to update my original post on Yotatech so that people aren't mislead.