Friday2322

I have an Old Man Emu HD lift and replaced the stock rear track bar with an adjustable JKS one, I have also replaced the rear sway bar links with adjustable ones. I am running 17 inch Rugged Ridge XHD wheels on 35's and have been having an issue with the passenger side, top sway bar link rubbing on the inside of the tire. I think I have the sway bar links on backwards but with them on the correct way it appears as though it would rub constantly. I think I need to adjust the track bar to push the axle to the passenger side about 1/4-1/2 an inch, does that look about right to you guys? The driver side appears to have all kinds of room and it tracks straight and doesn't crab going down the road. I'll try to attach some pictures so you can see what I'm dealing with.

Thanks in advance...

Mark Doiron

I think your swaybar link is too long. Some of those adjustable aftermarket links you're supposed to cut to the proper length before installing. Compare your fit to this image of mine. Note that the forward part of the swaybar is supposed to be parallel to the ground, not pointing up like yours seem to be. And they should be perpendicular to the track bar bracket. Do you think fixing would that take care of the rubbing? If not, what is your wheel backspacing? I'm running 4.5".

Mark Doiron

Oh, regarding the trackbar: It isn't clear to me if you have both axles centered. You can have tracking without crabbing without your axles properly centered. I just use a straightedge against the tire and measure to the fender on both sides, each axle separately, when aligning mine.

karls10jk

The links are on the incorrect side of the bar. If you're rubbing the inside of the tire then it sounds like you need less backspace on your wheels. Did you already have wheel spacers installed?

DJ1

^^ this right here. I have the links mounted on the outside of the swaybar but then again I'm also running spacers and low back-spaced wheels.



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Smudgeontheglass

He did say it is a Rugged Ridge XHD wheel which is 4.5" backspace. The two likely culprits are that the sway bar links are probably 2" too long if the axle is on level jackstands in the picture, and the axle probably isn't centered with the track bar or else you would expect to see this issue on the other side.

Your sway bar should be parallel with the ground or 'slightly' higher than parallel. The way it sits in the picture it seems too high.

If there is a large gap between the tire and the link on the driver side then you know it is a track bar adjustment.

Friday2322

Thanks for all of the responses. I'll cut the links down and get my sway bar closer to being parallel to the ground. I'm going to adjust the track bar and shift the axle a little also. Does anyone know which I need to go with it? Lengthen to push it towards the passenger side?

MarkY3130

If I remember right it attaches to the frame on the passenger side. So lengthening would move the axle to the drivers side.

DJ1

If your rig is completely street use, then yeah sway par parallel to the ground + perpendicular to the sway links will give you the best performance. So shorter links if need be.


If you do any offroading, you'll want the sway bar angled up a few degrees so there's less chance of the sway bar flipping to the rear when your rear axle is drooped. In this case, keep the links somewhat extended.


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Friday2322

I go to Colorado every year to get into the mountains and offroad and occasionally go to the local'ish offroad park. I think when my buddy helped install mine that's what he said as to why it is angled up a little. I really don't want to run the risk of flipping it, so if I need to concentrate on centering the axle I can do that. It isn't rubbing hard enough to eat into the tire and that's why I think 1/4-1/2 an inch would probably take care of it.

As far as adjusting the track bar, I need to shorten it to move the axle to the passenger side?