Swaybar Disconnects

I'm running a set of the old style Rough Country swaybar discos and am not totally pleased with them, so I'm debating about either modifying them to work better or getting some different ones all together, probably JKS. The RC discos do not seem to fit very well at all. It seems like they should be spaced further inward at the bottom; you can see in the pic how much they are angled when it seems like they should be more or less vertical:



This not only seems to be straining the bushings due to the way the discos are angled, but also makes them really hard to reconnect. I bought them used so perhaps they are missing some hardware to make them line up better. I think a couple thick washers might help this issue, not sure if I would need longer bolts as well.

The other issue is that they seem way too long for my 4.25" of lift. They angle the swaybar up so high that I can't to disconnect them with the Jeep on level ground (I actually have to flex the front suspension on something and disconnect them one side at a time). I think I could help this by cutting the center link about 1-1.5" shorter and then redrilling the holes.

What I'm trying to decide is if it's worth the effort to try and make these work better, or if I will be better off just getting different disconnects. I think these discos may be the source of a clunking sound from my front end as well. I can't say for sure, but I've had the same clunk ever since I installed these at the same time I installed my lift, and I've replaced a bunch of other parts. If that is the case it is probably an inherent design flaw of the RC discos and probably can't be helped. It doesn't bother me that much, but if the JKS discos don't clunk like these do I'd have to consider that as well.

So, has anyone had these disconnects, and if so do you like them or did you have the same problems with them? If you replaced them for something different are you glad you did?

I did some Googling and found a few threads about the RC discos being noisy or hard to reconnect, but they've designed these at least once, so it's hard to know which version people are referring to.

The old style RE Discos were state of the art at the time, but a PITA. Always froze up on a DD. Hard to align after a ride...
There is a reason the stock links are bent and not straight

JKS makes nice discos. The upper and lower bushings are designed like Heim joints both sizes with zerks. You will spend a bit, but they are worth it. I have a set on my 01'. Don't know how I lived without them.

I have a set of RC dicos on my LJ (Simular Sway bar setup). They aren't as swell as the JKS units (Ball joint one end, Heim type bushng on the other), but are a tad cheaper.

The advantage of both of these is that they are adjustable for height.

Yeah I like the design of the bushings on the JKS discos, seems like they would be quiet and last a long time being greaseable poly. They seem easy to fine tune for the ideal height as well.

Love my JKS disconnects. Get the longest applicable model for your lift height.

Yeah I had the old style RC ones for a while. I had the same issue with them being angled instead of straight, I think I ended up spacing them out using a longer bolt on the bottom and some washers. They sucked to re-connect after a trail ride though, so I just gave up and left them disconnected all the time.

Like everyone else said, get rid of them and get JKS. I bought a set to replace my RC disconnects and I'm much happier

I am Very happy with my JKS Quicker Disco's

Those RC ones are junk. I had them as well. Rattle like crazy and the pins are a pain. Spend the money once and get the JKS.

I have the new style rough country disconnects, and I love them, there quiet, adjustable, I find them very easy to disconnect, and they have a cool bracket to attach them to the frame up out of the way when disconnected, not to mention they were only 70.00

I have had both the old and new style of Rough country disco's The old style was Crap, the new style is 100% improved..

With that said, I Love my JKS Quicker disco's the most.

I've used the JKS since '05 and have installed new bushings and sleeves twice now. Even greasing them on a regular basis doesn't make them last forever. The sleeves are aluminum, thus wear faster than steel and the bushings do eventually stretch. Mind you, I'm not complaining just the elements from on and off road do eventually get to them. I most certainly wouldn't have any others.

So I decided to pull my swaybar this weekend, and no more clunks or rattles over bumps. Just as I thought, the RC discos were the culprit.

I don't want to give anyone the impression the RC discos are horrible, they do their job, and I think with the tweaks I was proposing in my first post they would probably be a lot easier to disconnect/reconnect. That being said, I think I'll be getting a set of the JKS. The noise the RC's make really isn't all that bad, but after installing all new bushings/ball joints/wheel bearings it's just kind of annoying to still have the front suspension making odd noises.