My lift has moved my rear axle back a little ways and now I have a pretty sharp angle in the sway bar links.. If you pull the rear wheel off the sway bar link is leaning forward about 10-12 degrees. The sway bar itself is at 0 degrees (parallel to the ground) and I have extended length sway bar links.

Is this condition contributing to the loose wallowing feeling coming from the rear of the jeep? It almost feels as if the rear shocks are bad but they only have 2000 miles on them.. What is the solution for this?

I have seen a few sway bar relocation kits that move the sway bar back a couple of inches but most say that you can't run the stock muffler with it. I've also seen a write-up where they used self tapping bolts to move the bar back to where its almost touching the muffler but not quite. It would seem that moving the swaybar mounting points back a little bit would fix the angle in the sway bar links but I can't find a picture online of what rear links look like when they're mounted correctly. Not sure if they should have any angle to them or not.

Any advice??

Edit: Now that I am thinking about it, I would have to move the sway bar mount back AND get shorter links at the same time wouldn't I?

 

Well, you're at a fork in the road....lol. When I came to that fork I chose to remove the stock muffler, and move the rear sway bar back an inch with by drilling new holes in the frame and using some self threading bolts. I now run a cheap $35 thrush welded muffler which I actually like just fine, and paid $40 to have a muffler shop mount it up and bend a pipe to mount where the factory was bolted up.....just in case I didn't like it. I don't recall any odd feeling prior to that, but I hated hearing my sway bar links leaning so far forward and close to rear upper arms. I know a couple people that just run without rear sway bars, but I wasn't thrilled with that option myself. I also run a skinny series rear bumper, so not having that big factory muffler hanging down was really nice benefit as well.

 

Ideally, you want the links to be perpendicular to the axle. The closer to 90 degrees the better. The swaybar arms should be angled up a few degrees to avoid any swaybar flip under articulation.

If you plan on keeping the stock swaybar, lose the stock muffler and tap your own holes to move it back an inch. Or you can use the synergy relocation kit.

Since I just installed my rear upper control arms and 1350 drive shaft, I just dealt with this. My links aren't exactly perpendicular but they are a hell of a lot better than where they were...

I run an aftermarket exhaust but still using stock rear swaybar AND i believe stock rear links albeit relocated back using the synergy kit...

I can't remember if my AEV 2.5 kit came with a set of rear links...

** I just checked. Still running rear stock links on my setup. So lose your extended links and try going back to the shorter stock ones my 2 cents.

 

I should have added that I spent the last 3000 miles without a rear sway bar and got used to the way it felt. Once I finally got my bent LCA's replaced I was able to put the sway bar back on with the stock links, even thought the bar itself was at a pretty steep angle, it made a HUGE difference in handling and I won't go back to driving without one. I thought the solution to the swaybar angle was to add longer links and now the rear feels like it did without a sway bar at all.. I hate to lose my stock muffler but I guess that's the route I will be going.. Now just need to do a little work with the old pythagorean theory to figure out how far back to move the mounting point and how long of links I need. I attest part of this problem to how horribly my 4" lift springs have sagged after adding weight and 30k miles to the Jeep...

 

You're probably only going to move it back about an inch. I just made new sway bar links myself out of rod ends and some 1/2" all thread....cut to the length I needed. Primed and painted. Rod ends were $19 for 4 and all thread was few bucks at Home Depot. Think I had to buy a pack of 10 self threading bolts online as couldn't locate what I wanted locally.

I would note that if you move it back and you wheel your jeep, pay close attention to the hard brake lines there. My bolts were a little long and when the sway bar moved up under rear wheel stuff, the sway bar link bolt grabbed my hard brake line and pulled it down forming a nice "V".......which set me off to change the hard brake line (which isn't pricey from the dealer btw)....and it also seemed like the right time to upgraded to braided steel brake lines. Fun times.

 

It's all physics 101. I actually talked about it in pretty great detail buried in some thread in this forum.

Some guys like to run without a rear sway. I guess that's cool if you like to take corners and off/on ramps going 10 mph or if it's a dedicated trail jeep. Not for me. I still daily drive my Jeep "sporty."

Also, when offroading unless you're running the rubi-sway or the anti-rock, most times you are completely disconnecting the front sway. With no rear sway also attached, I personally think that's a bad accident waiting to happen in an off-camber situation running suspension on stock mounts and a narrow track width.

 

hmmm....with your 4" lift you are probably going to need about an inch more than the stock links but if you have the stock links handy, you should try them out and see how it looks.

With my 2.5" it is still actually a little cramped as my stock links are tilted about 70-75 degrees with relation to the axle. They were around 45 degrees prior to moving the swaybar back which pretty much negates the swaybar's intended performance. So a higher lift would actually get them closer to 90 degrees with the swaybar relocated back.

If you still have the stockers laying around, try em' out.

 

^^^^if the stock ones are just an inch or so short, what a great excuse to throw some Evo Rock Stars on those lower control arm mounts.....get a nice LCA skid, more ground clearance by relocating the shock mount higher, ANNNND....it moves the sway bar mount about an inch higher! LOL. The rabbit hole goes on and on......

 

..lol. I already installed the Rebel Offroad Grinders. Those biatches are staying on lol

...but yeah, I hear ya loud and clear. This crap is never ending lol...


** There's my excuse to go to a 3.5" lift.....because my swaybar links are now too long haha

 

Luckily I just finished relocating my rear hard brake lines. Mine did the same thing as resharp001's did.. I moved them inboard of the frame and through the top ala Currie Anti-Rock instructions.. What a pain that project turned out to be after kinking the hard line and learning how to do double flares...

I do have the stock links but the passenger side is bent real bad.. My jeep isn't my daily driver so I think I'll work on the muffler next, then move the mounting back and just measure for the links once everything is aligned.. It never ends!