On Road Handling, Off-Road Prowess and a Great Stocking Stuffer!

Three and a half years ago, I purchased a 1988 Cherokee Laredo with 100K
miles on the odometer as a daily driver and trail machine.  Compared to the
CJs and Wranglers I have owned, the XJ handled like a sports car on the
road.  After installing a 3-4 inch lift from Tomken Machine and a set of
Rancho RS9000 shocks, the ride and handling were still superior to the
Cherokee's bob-tailed brethren.  I removed the rear sway bar when I
installed the lift and used the drop brackets provided in the kit to retain
the stock front sway bar.  This set-up was O.K., but the front skid plate
was not compatible with the drop brackets and I had to disconnect the sway
bar with wrenches at the trail head.  This minor inconvenience caused my
wife great concern since anytime I approach a Jeep with a wrench it seems
to cost money.   Naturally, my answer was to totally remove the sway bar
and install the front skid plate.   The Cherokee's on-road manners were not
any worse than a CJ or YJs although it did lean quite a bit in the turns. 
For the last three years, I watched as everyone disconnected sway bars at
the trails head secretly smug in the fact that Avocado is always trail
ready.  Of course, driving the 1000 miles to the trail head while a camper
and cross winds make the Avocado sway more that the Titanic is hidden from
everyone except my passengers. 

 

        
Recently, I drove a friend's lifted Cherokee around town and it handled
great.  He was using one of the more popular two piece sway bar
disconnects.  Driving with the sway bar hooked up made me long for better
handling from the Avocado.  I started looking at the various quick
disconnects available and talking to owners.  My friend's two piece
disconnects separate in the middle of the vertical bar on each side by
pulling a pin.  Driving on road, I noticed a they made a clanking sound
which concerned me until I found out where it was coming from.  Once the
sway bar was disconnected, I had to look for a tie wrap to hold it up and
out of the way.  Reconnecting the disconnect was a bear.  I put the
Cherokee's front suspension through all sorts of gyrations trying to line
up the pin hole in the vertical rods.  Speaking to other owners with
multi-piece disconnects revealed much displeasure in trying to reconnect
them.  Some owners told me it took a floor jack to reconnect their
disconnects!  I knew there must be a better design on the market.


While vacationing in Colorado, I stopped by Tomken Machine in Buena Vista
to check out their new products.  The engineers showed me their latest sway
bar disconnect design for TJs and XJs.  It was a one piece design with
simple pull pins and a wing nut on top.  I knew I had found the disconnects
I wanted.  The folks at Tomken Machine said they had made the same
observations about other sway bar disconnect designs and decided to make
things easier.  The installation is straight forward with the only trick
being removing the factory sway bar side pieces.  Once the side pieces are
removed, swing the sway bar up and attach the Tomken pieces on the supplied
bottom posts.  Rotate the side bars to vertical position and swing the sway
bar down into place.  Secure the sway bar to the side bars using the
supplied washers, bushings, wing nut, and safety pin.  Tomken Machine
always provides the unexpected in their products and the disconnects are no
exception.  Tomken provides a extra bracket to easily hold the sway bar up
out of the way when disconnected.  In addition, they provide a handy
carrying bag to keep the disconnects and hardware in when they are removed.




Now, I enjoy good, safe on road manners and have the added wheel travel
only disconnected sway bars can provide.  Although I drove my XJ for
several years with no sway bars, I now know this was a foolish practice.  On road
collision avoidance may require drastic maneuvers.  Without a sway bar, the
additional body roll could make the difference between safe recovery and no
recovery.  For $69.95, the Tomken sway bar disconnects are inexpensive
safety enhancements.   Tomken Machine sells sway bar disconnects for a
variety of vehicles and suspensions.  

Tomken Machine
35680 U.S. Hwy. 24 N.
Buena Vista, Co 81211
Phone: (719)- 395-2526
Fax: (719)-395-4037