Rear Sway Bar Quick Disconnects

[CBoug76]

Parts used:

2 3/16" Lynch Pins
Dia (A) (B)
3/16" 1 9/16" 1 1/4"

2 3/8-16 1/2" Dia Shoulder Screws

4 1/2" Stainless Steel Washers .132" thick

I just made some Quick Disconnects for my rear sway bar. They were easy to make. I found
at my work some Shoulder screws, they just happen to have a 1/2" diamerter should and be
about 2.5" long, and on the end they had about 1/2 more of 3/8" thread.
Here is what I did:

1) I took out the stock bolts. (some force will be needed.)
2) Drilled out the sway bar holes with a 1/2" drill bit.(the hole is not a perfect hole,
almost like they made the hole when they cast the sway bar.)
3) Test fitted the bolts, with a little grease they went thru the sway bar and bushing with
no problem. You should have 1 washer on the bolt before you put it thru the sway bar, and
then put the 2nd washer on the bolt after it is thru the sway bar.
4) Next, I had to drill a hole in the bolt so that I could put the Lynch Pinn in it. Mark
the bolt with a marker of a pencil where the Lynch pin would go thru the bolt while it
is up against the washer. I used a 3/16" Drill bit, making sure to go Straight thru the
bolt.
5) Now you can stop here or if you want you can round over the end of the shoulder screw so
that it helps to line everything up as it is inserted in the hole. You also might want to
do this to the Lynch Pins too.

Rounded End Pin

The First picture had a pointed end, the second picture has a square end, this is how they come when you purchase them.

Threaded End Pin

Here is the Quick Disconnect with all its parts put together. (Shown is the Pin with Threaded on the end)

In this picture you see a Wing Nut and a Plate on the Threaded portion of the pin, If Somewanted a "Back-up" for the Lynch Pin, This is what you could do.

Here is The Driver's Side Quick Disconnect Pin before I rounded the end off, The Pass. Side is Identical, with the obvious exception that everything is mirrored.


I Noticed that when I go to put the quick disconnects back in, it is easier to insert the
Pass Side before the Drivers Side.


Any Questions, just e-mail me or post here.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Chris, thanks for the post. I recently bought the disconnects from Warrior but they don't fit with my lift. This will much cheaper and easier. How hard is it to remove and then put back together?? Thanks again.

 

[CBoug76]

they take alittle bit to take out, but if you have some WD-40 with you, then they go in Easy!

One thing i did fail to mention, was that I Leave the sway bar hanging, I don't see it being a problem, I might look into tieing u with something later on. And I also just let the Sway Bar links Hang, I can't seem to get them to stay where I put them, its like the upper bolt is alsk Knurled so the bushing grips it like a vise.

aditional note:
You can use Regular bolts instaed of the Shoulder Screws, but its not as Pretty!

 

[rpenner54]

Originally posted by CBoug76
they take alittle bit to take out, but if you have some WD-40 with you, then they go in Easy!

One thing i did fail to mention, was that I Leave the sway bar hanging, I don't see it being a problem, I might look into tieing u with something later on. And I also just let the Sway Bar links Hang, I can't seem to get them to stay where I put them, its like the upper bolt is alsk Knurled so the bushing grips it like a vise.

aditional note:
You can use Regular bolts instaed of the Shoulder Screws, but its not as Pretty!

If you like your rear sway bar I would recomend bungy tieing it up. At the CCR2001 run I was backing up pretty fast and smacked mine into a rock really hard. Its now bent up pretty good.

 

[Positive Vibes]

E brake cable

I have 5.5" lift and I was noticing that my e-brake cable is very tight. Have you checked yours? Have you done any modifications to it? Do you have any ideas. I'm really worried about disconnecting the rear sways. I talked with the tire company which just installed my new coils (they were sagging). They had no suggestions but to disconnect the ebrake. Any ideas of suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[CBoug76]

I have let my rear end hang by the shoks many times and the E-brake cable is ok.

I will look into bungieing the sway bar up to something.....

 

[Positive Vibes]

E brake tight afraid to disconnect rear sway

Anyone out there with a 5.5" superlift?? My e-brake cable is pretty tight, meaning I don't seem to have a lot of play. I have had no problems with the rear sway connected but I am afraid to disconnect it, fearing it will yank the cable out. Any one have any ideas or any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[rpenner54]

My e-brake cable is what limits the travel on the drivers side. Its almost always taught or limiting. I have had a Ranger e-brake cable to install in its place for quite some time now and just have never bothered.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Rpenner54, do you disconnect your rear sway? If so don't you fear that the ebrake cable may break? Is the ranger cable any longer or is there any advantage to it? I'm worried about ripping out my ebrake this weekend and any help is welcomed. Thanks!!

 

[rpenner54]

Originally posted by Positive Vibes
Rpenner54, do you disconnect your rear sway? If so don't you fear that the ebrake cable may break? Is the ranger cable any longer or is there any advantage to it? I'm worried about ripping out my ebrake this weekend and any help is welcomed. Thanks!!

Since I did my lift the only time the rear bar has ever been connected is when I drove out to Moab. Then it was disconected. If it breaks it breaks, I highly dought it would though, its pretty strong stuff. The Ranger cable is longer and provides enough slack to allow full droop. I have never ripped mine out and I have done a few things that probably should've tested it pretty well.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Thanks, Rpenner54 for the info. One more question. What do you do with the front sway bar? I do feel much better about disconnecting them this weekend. I've done quite a bit of wheeling but never without the sways connected. If for some reason I do rip out the ebrake cable what could be the worst to happen?

 

[rpenner54]

On the front you just have to be worried about the brake lines. What I did to test the front was take off the front sway bar and jacked up the truck from the body as high as I could and saw if my brake line was long enough. If you rip one of these out you better have a vice grip or something that will pinch it up so you can at least have some brakes.

I take the sway bars off everytime now that I go off-road. MUCH MUCH more comfy that way. Smooth ride too. Can be scary on the road however.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Thanks again for all your help. I'll let you know how much damage I do this weekend.

 

[CBoug76]

Photos have been added, see above!

 

[tiessen]

The Ranger ebrake cable (Supercab) is the solution to ebrake length. As for swaybars, just take the stupid thing off. I haven't had mine on for years and I'm running Ranger leafs with an Explorer main (way softer than a stock Explorer pack). I drive on mtn highways, tow trailers, etc and have never had any problems. As for the front TTB, use lynch pins like above on the bottom bolts (attached to the TTB). Or swap to a solid axle and throw away all your swaybars like I did.

Cheers
Dale

 

[KEbert]

Ahhh . . . could I ask: what happened to your springs? You only have the one?

 

[Robert]

Ford, in its infinate wisdome determined that all the Sport needed was a single mono-leaf instead of the leaf pack that the 4-doors get. They used spacers to fill in the space where the other leafs would go. In 2001, they finally started putting a full leaf pack in the Sports as well.

 

[KEbert]

I guess you learn something new everyday. But wouldn't that make the rear suspension really soft?

 

[CBoug76]

But if you have noriced on the Newer Sports, they have gone back tot he Leaf Pack instead of the Mono Leaf.....

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by KEbert
I guess you learn something new everyday. But wouldn't that make the rear suspension really soft?

Not really. The single mono-leaf is rated at almost the same strength as the leaf pack. It is just considered a progressive rate spring. The downside is that it seems to develop its sag sooner than the 4-doors. At least most of the sagging Explorers that I see are 2-doors, mine included.