Swaybar quick disconnect help

My JKS quick discos finally showed up yesterday and now it's time to get them installed. I've read some horror stories on JF and WF (and elsewhere) about trying to get the bolts out of the old ones and re-installed into the new ones. From what I've read it takes a considerable amount of banging and prying, and many online have suggested removing the entire sway bar in order to get them out. I'm really not looking to go that route. I also don't have a few of the tools people have mentioned using to get the job done which certainly complicates things.

I know plenty of you have experience installing disconnects so I'm looking for some advice. What I don't know is if there's a difference between the swaybar links on YJs and those on TJs and JKs, so any YJ guys who have done this would be particularly helpful. I'm thinking this is something I should be able to accomplish as a driveway job, but I'm not sure. Should I just take it to my mechanic and have him make quick work of it or should I give it a try? 

As a side note, I attempted to remove the rear track bar, but one of the bolts is seized, and my mechanic ran into the same issue when I had him take a look at it while the thing was in for some other work. He was going to cut it off and remove everything, but I opted to keep it in just in case the ride became a little too squirrelly for my liking and I couldn't counter that issue. The more I think about it though the more I'm thinking I might just want it taken out. Should I just have him kill two birds with one stone and save myself the agony?

Thanks in advance for the advice everyone. Also, if you guys do think this is a driveway job, would anyone be willing to help get it done? I didn't want to post this in the "Wrenching Schedule" thread without getting some advice first.

Driveway Job!!
Remove the bottom nut at each spring plate and pop the lower sway bar links off,  then lift the sway bar up at rear of sway bar so links clear the steering linkage and then swing sway bar down and forward.
Then you can remove the top sway bar link attaching bolt nut ,,, smack / shock with a 3 lb hammer on the sway bar where the bolt goes through it and it should come undone.

Hope this makes sense ,, easier to show you than explain.

Oh man, until you posted this, I had totally forgotten how much suck that mod involved.  Still worth doing yourself, just allot some extra time.

Mark's advice sounds much better than what I tried, though, which was a picklefork and then resorting to the cut-off wheel pretty quickly, which doesn't work when there's a bushing involved.

CrawlingForward wrote:Oh man, until you posted this, I had totally forgotten how much suck that mod involved.  Still worth doing yourself, just allot some extra time.

Now that's more the response I was figuring on getting. Don't worry Geoff, if there's one thing I've learned from it taking close to eight hours to change four fender FLARES and close to 17 hours to get the damn doors to latch (what a concept, doors that close), among other things, it's that no matter how small the job is it's going to take me all day.

You can do it!
 What movie was that from that guy Rob ,( i forget his last name ) says that?
He says "you can do it" you can do it all night long!

Also, would it be easier to do this with both tires removed from the front end or go at it one side at a time? Obviously one side at a time would be easiest, but would that create more stress on the stock link and make it harder to get off?

Mark wrote:You can do it!  What movie was that from that guy Rob ,( i forget his last name ) says that?

That would be Rob Schneider from The Waterboy. Awesome reference Mark.

HAHA that's it!
You could remove the front wheels that would make it easier to do both at the same time.

If you've got two jacks handy, I would throw them under the axle and take both off.  It'll probably make it easier.  And just throw the tires under bumper and backup jackstands.

Ok, that's what I was figuring. Looking at photos and write-ups online it looks like it should be a pretty straight forward process despite the problems everyone seems to have removing them, which no doubt I will also run into. The bolts that hold the links onto the sway bar are only threaded at the very ends correct? If that's the case then I have a general idea of the approach I'm gonna take, which will be how you suggested Mark along with the help of some large C-clamps. I'm trying to figure out why people are saying they needed a torch to get the bolts loose. That seems awful extreme to me. But I guess if things don't go smoothly I'll understand why tomorrow.

I believe the shank/shoulder is tapered like a tie-rod end, so it is *jammed* in there.  The torch heats up the surrounding metal, expanding it and making it easier to pound the sucker out.

That makes an incredible amount of sense. Well here's hoping they just decide to be nice to me.

Well guys, no dice. Bottoms of the links came off no problem, tops won't budge for nothing. It's basically impossible to get any sort of press/clamp on them and my BFH made no impact whatsoever. Looks like it's gonna be a trip up the street to have them put on and probably have the rear track bar taken off.

Did you try the torch yet?

Did you try the torch yet?

Take the sway bar off and lay it on cement or something hard and whack the SWAY BAR right at the piont where the link goes through it and it should come apart no problem.
You need to have it on something HARD and HIT it HARD it will come loose if it is a tapered fit......

Well I was trying to avoid removing the whole swaybar because to do so I have to remove one of the bolts from the front track bar, and who knows if that thing will move at all. As far as the torch thing goes, I don't have access to one and quite frankly wouldn't feel comfortable using it. I'm gonna see if the mechanic I go to can use an impact gun or something of the like to just get those top bolts out for me, and I can go from there. If they need to be torched out I'll let him handle that too.

By torch, btw, I just mean one of those blue bottle propane things you get at Lowes for $20.  Well worth the investment.

mapp gas uses same torch head and is hotter than propane.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_387417-13877-332477_0__

Did you get the nuts off at the top of the links ?

Yeah, I guess access wasn't really the right term, should've just said don't have one. I'm just not entirely comfortable heating up something that needs to be reused as my first torch experience, especially since the side I'd be heating is the one with the threads. I'm hoping the guy can make quick work of getting the bolts off and I'll do the rest. It was really a piece of cake getting those bottom ends disconnected.

bfh and heat

Mark wrote:Did you get the nuts off at the top of the links ?

Yep, those came off without much of a fight using my breaker bar and a nice pre-soak from some PB Blaster. The lower bolt on my passenger side has seen better days though. It must have met a nice rock because a good chunk of it is missing and as a result a few of the threads are a little mashed. Nothing too bad as to prevent the nut from coming off, but definitely not how it's supposed to be.

The lower bolts take a hit now and then, as long as it's not all bent up and you can get the nut back on your good to go.