Rubicon sway bar woes

We wheel our JK pretty often and from time to time, $*#@ happens. Take last week for example…we went to TN trail jam, rode yellow and a few red trails with no issues. Setting in a small parking area after the ride talking and noticed some obstacles made from old loader tires. Well, of course I had to try it. So while maneuvering around we hear a pop and I get A LOT of pretty lights on the dash. The jeep will not shift, seems to be stuck in 2nd gear and I can’t tell because the shift indicator has also stopped working, rpm indicator jumps occasionally but engine runs smooth. Awesome….

As luck would have it, when I had to back up a couple of feet, the edge of one of the tires smashed he electrical connection to my sway bar disconnect actuator. Well, when this happened anything that is tied to Can1 lost its mind and the jeep basically gives up.

So while trailering it home I think, no big deal a new wiring harness and I’m set…nope. Upon further inspection, it also broke the housing where the connection is made. So here I am looking for used actuators since the new ones are $2000. Now I know someone is going to say, get an anti rock/sway loc. I would if that’s what I wanted, but I would rather keep the electric if I can find one.

Also, for those who like irony…the say bar flip bolt was literally in the mail, just a few days too late.

I will try and update as progress is made, but it will be a couple of weeks before I have time to really work on.

Edit to add picture, such a small piece to cause so many problems and cost so much

Small update.

The jeep has been in the body shop for a month or so and I got it back. During this time I found a sway bar actuator from a fellow jeeper, which he promptly shipped to me. Also got the electrical pig tail ordered from the dealer and still waiting on delivery. These are going to cost about $500 but, I think it will solve my problems. Which beats the $2000+ for a new actuator.

Also, for any reading this later with similar issues…when the connection was smashed, it literally causes every light on the dash to come on, the alarm(chime?) goes off constantly, it shifts HARD into reverse and would only go into 2nd while in drive.

So, I thought I had really screwed the thing up and trailered it home. Turns out all I had to do was jam a screwdriver in there and get it unplugged. This cleared up everything except he flashing sway bar light obviously. Drives fine, dash lights off and transmission works.

Speartip said:

An episode of JK Gear and Gadgets goes into detail about the electronic sway bar as there's been
many issues with the electronics or it not engaging properly at end of the trail.
He purchased a manual engager for the sway bar. It gets rid of the electronics and all you do is
turn a knob to engage or disengage . An option if it ever goes south again .
Here is a legit link to EVO manufacting .
https://evomfg.com/products/nolimits-manual-rubicon-swaybar-disconnect-jk-jl-jt

Click to expand...

They aren’t very hard to rebuild, as long as you don’t let the problem go on too long. If I ever decide to ditch the electronic bar I will probably go with antirock or swaylock.