Sway bar issue

[eaglescout526]

So ever since I have had my MJ my sway bar has destroyed the links, or the axle has. One of the two. But there is no damage to either. Anyone else have this issue before?

 

Really don’t want to do a front axle swap but a sway bar swap is more feasible. And my MJ hasn’t take any damage that would cause the sway bar to do this. Now at the moment I do have some front end clunking at the moment and I have replaced the track bar before and the sway bar links have still failed after about 6 months. I don't know if the bar has been swapped ever. I have done the remove the bar, install the links and then install the bar thinking it was an alignment issue and no change with the issue. 

[Gjeep]

Broke the endlinks? Are they factory or aftermarket endlinks

 

[eaglescout526]

1 hour ago, Gjeep said:

Broke the endlinks? Are they factory or aftermarket endlinks

 

No broken but the way they are, the sway bar keeps forcing the bushing out of the link and keeps trashing the bushings that sandwich the sway bar. Otherwise it’s all factory style replacement links. 

[Gjeep]

I’d get factory jeep end links. Possibly poor quality material? Can’t imagine your driving the MJ that hard. 

[eaglescout526]

Funny thing is I’m not. But I feel like I’m replacing the links every 6 months due to the bushings coming out of the link and failing bushings for the sway bar. I’ll have to snap some pics but I’m leaning towards I need a new sway bar. 

[cruiser54]

Is your front axle off-center by chance? 

 

 

[AZJeff]

14 hours ago, eaglescout526 said:

Funny thing is I’m not. But I feel like I’m replacing the links every 6 months due to the bushings coming out of the link and failing bushings for the sway bar. I’ll have to snap some pics but I’m leaning towards I need a new sway bar. 

Send a couple of pics so we can study the situation better and offer suggestions.

[eaglescout526]

Its almost like it’s pushed to one side and I’ve when I have replaced the track bar a couple times, I still have this issue present. 

[cruiser54]

Red. Is that an aftermarket swaybar?

[eaglescout526]

6 minutes ago, cruiser54 said:

Red. Is that an aftermarket swaybar?

No I repainted it with whatever colors my parents had when I first got my MJ. So it’s still the original one as far as I know. My grandfather passed and so I can’t ask him but I can’t see him having done a damn thing except replace the fuel pump like he said he did before my ownership. 

[cruiser54]

No lift, right? 

[eaglescout526]

Still stock. No parts that help lift it. Only standard duty springs front and rear, JK shocks front and rear, factory control arms, steering parts, track bar and sway bar. Only thing that’s not factory is the bushings and brackets for the sway bar. 

[89 MJ]

It almost looks like the sway bar is too narrow or the brackets on the axle are too wide. 

[eaglescout526]

It’s a 2wd axle, i don't know the thickness of the sway bar sadly. It’s probably 24mm. 

[rokinn]

From the photos the axle appears to be shifted to the left relative to the sway bar.

[eaglescout526]

3 minutes ago, rokinn said:

From the photos the axle appears to be shifted to the left relative to the sway bar.

See I have thought this many times. But the two times I have put in a new track bar, the axle gets or is aligned. I think my sway bar is pushed in on the ends from the axle being misaligned for so long. I think my grandfather drove her with a screwed up track bar for longer than he should’ve. He did say he did some light off-roading too. 
i can buy a new sway bar and compare. 

[87MJTIM]

From the photos, it looks like the sway bar is spread too wide.  I say that because both links are pushed out.  If the axle was shifted, one of the links would be pushed in, the other would be pushed out.

 

Spread wide: \ /

shifted right: / /

shifted left: \ \

 

My 2¢

[eaglescout526]

5 minutes ago, 87MJTIM said:

From the photos, it looks like the sway bar is spread too wide.  I say that because both links are pushed out.  If the axle was shifted, one of the links would be pushed in, the other would be pushed out.

 

Spread wide: \ /

shifted right: / /

shifted left: \ \

 

My 2¢

That’s a $1 right there. I think I’ll look into a new or new to me sway bar. There’s no telling what my grandfather did when he owned my MJ and drove it. 

[gogmorgo]

Newer end links off a TJ or similar have ball joints at the top that might prevent this, although the TJ links are longer than the XJ/MJ.
There was a change in link length during the ‘91 model year. I’m not really sure why, but the links get longer there, although I don’t know that would cause this specific problem if you were putting the wrong length in. 

 

I would have said it looked like the sway bar may have been bent inwards rather than outwards. Almost as if a strap got put around the middle of it as a recovery point, between the mounting bushings. When I upgraded to a ZJ sway bar I noticed the newer one was wider in the link area and the old one had a slight kink in the middle. I figured someone must have tugged on it at some point. I don’t remember the end links having too much of an issue, outside of having actually broken one of them, but I wouldn’t have really been looking. Pretty well everything was wore out anyhow. 

[AZJeff]

I would be quite surprised if a sway bar was able to be "narrowed" (as measured end to end) or "widened" due to poor recovery practices without the vehicle showing signs of damage where the sway bar is attached to the chassis.  After all, this bar is made from forged spring steel.

 

One thing I noticed is that the brackets that are welded to the axle housing, upon which the lower end of the sway bar link is attached, seem to be made from a forging, and not from a stamping.  (My MJ has a late model XJ front axle, and those brackets are made from heavy gauge stampings instead of what OP's axle has.)   I am wondering if those thicker brackets are part of the cause here.

 

Is there some sort of difference in sway bar attachment points on the axle that happened over the years, or between 2wd and 4wd front axles?

[eaglescout526]

I’ll have to go look at my 86 2wd beam and see if they changed it from 86 to 88. I’ll look at my 84 XJ as well and see. And more than likely the brackets are a 2wd oddity. I’ll take lots more pictures tonight.
Like I said, I wouldn’t be surprised about things being bent or trashed as my grandfather never really took good care of the important stuff on my MJ. I’ll probably look at going to a ZJ sway bar since I’ll get a new one. 

[AZJeff]

1 hour ago, eaglescout526 said:

I’ll have to go look at my 86 2wd beam and see if they changed it from 86 to 88. I’ll look at my 84 XJ as well and see. And more than likely the brackets are a 2wd oddity. I’ll take lots more pictures tonight.
Like I said, I wouldn’t be surprised about things being bent or trashed as my grandfather never really took good care of the important stuff on my MJ. I’ll probably look at going to a ZJ sway bar since I’ll get a new one. 

If you can acquire a brand new ZJ bar, that would be the best choice.   Since you have connections at a dealer on the west side, are you saying that a brand new OEM ZJ bar is still available?   Just curious.

[eaglescout526]

1 minute ago, AZJeff said:

If you can acquire a brand new ZJ bar, that would be the best choice.   Since you have connections at a dealer on the west side, are you saying that a brand new OEM ZJ bar is still available?   Just curious.

I don't know actually. I’m curious myself. Probably would be way out of a price range. 

[eaglescout526]

No ZJ sway bars out there. Even eBay doesn’t really have any listed but there are XJ ones. 

[FrankTheDog]

Should be plenty of ZJ bars in the junkyard’s. Biggest ones would probably be in V8 limiteds with factory hitch.