tl;dr: I've developed a prototype interface to allow controlling aftermarket sway bar disconnects using the factory sway bar button and I'm looking for a tester. If you have replaced yours with an Evo No Limits On Demand air-actuated unit (or similar) and would like to help me test, read on.

The longer story:

We've done the manual disconnect thing in the past and we're over it. One of the features we've always really appreciated about the JK is the on-demand sway bar disconnect. We wheel in the mud where connecting and disconnecting is not fun, and we do some things that involve multiple on-off-on road scenarios in a day and we just very much prefer a button by the driver. Our factory SmartBar has held out for a long tenure, but they're all on borrowed time.

Ours failed recently not due to water ingress, sticky grease, etc. The motor has something bad inside and just won't reliably operate. My wife demands a fix and I told her the way to go is the air-operated unit. Benefit is "no limits", downside is orphaning the factory swaybar button on the dash, relegated to never being pressed again. She wasn't happy. I know, adding a switch is easy, but we've got lots of switches for added functionality, and it sucks to have to add a switch for something there's already a nice switch for, IMHO.

So, after a bunch of work, I've got a prototype module that looks like a SmartBar to the vehicle computer. It allows you to operate your aftermarket disconnect (or anything else really) with the factory button, and it also controls the dash light so that it's illuminated when the disconnect is engaged, like it's supposed to. It works in 2WD and at any speed. It remembers its state across starts and doesn't disconnect until you tell it to. It was an opportunity to not only solve the problem but also improve over factory.

I've done a bunch of bench testing and it's been in our JK for a week at this point. People at the grocery store are sick of the loud clunk from me disconnecting my sway bar when I go over the speed bumps in the parking lot. I expect other people will want this just like I do (feedback on this would be appreciated), but before I offer it to random people I'm hoping for someone to help me test it on their Jeep. This is what I'd need in a tester:

- Has a JK factory Rubicon. Mine's a 2012, so a pre-facelift might be nice to prove it works for those too, but a facelift model is also more likely to just work.
- Familiar with modifying their Jeep, and who understands the risk of anything like this
- Willing to communicate responsively over email about testing, and test it within like a week or so
- Has already replaced their SmartBar with something like an Evo air disconnect (themselves, and are very familiar with how stuff like that works)
- Has already cut the electrical connector off (or is willing to) and has access to the wires
- Can re-enable the factory swaybar mode (if disabled with something like the AEV tool)
- Can read and reset codes if they get thrown
- Can handle splicing into the factory sway bar wires, checking things with a multimeter, extending the wires if needed, and mounting the controller (in a 4x2.5" box) somewhere
- Understand it might not work, and I might decide to just drop the idea if problems arise

I'll send you a board and instructions. If everything works, you send me some pictures and then its yours. If not, you'll help me try to remotely debug it (i.e. not just say "I plugged it in, no worky, I'm done").

For anyone interested in the device itself, it's a little microcontroller with CANBUS hardware and a relay. It talks to the chassis to keep it happy (keeps it from going into error state and blinking the light), toggles the relay when the button is pushed, and controls the light in the instrument cluster. Since it's just a relay, you could technically control anything with it (despite the label on the button) and I can put it into a mode where it never turns on the light but continues to toggle the relay, if it's used for something else.




It really just needs two things from the factory harness: the two CANBUS wires. Those are accessible elsewhere on the vehicle, but they're most handy where the factory SmartBar connected. It also needs an ignition-switched 12v wire and ground, both are also accessible in the factory harness.

I also made a 3D-printed male connector for the funky smart bar harness so I could interface with my factory wires non-destructively before I was sure it would work. It's a little over the top, and probably not worth doing for everyone, but I think it's pretty cool