Anyone experiencing noise with TeraFlex disconnects?

[omnitonic]

I put a set of TeraFlex sway bar disconnects on my Jeep about six weeks ago. About two weeks ago, I started to notice an obnoxious clacking noise up front. I grabbed hold of everything, poked and yanked on it, and everything seemed tight. I finally decided to try giving the sway bar disconnects a new shot of grease, and that seemed to cure the problem.

Last time I went wheeling, I was starting to notice the clacking noise had returned prior to the start of the trip. Before I reconnected, I shot both of them up with a good dose of grease. This time, the clacking has continued. All the grease in the world won't stop the clacking.

I had my son drive over a wavy parking lot in 4 low while I walked beside the Jeep. The clacking definitely seemed to coincide with the sway bar pivoting up and down. It moves a lot more than I actually expected. It moves up and down pretty much continuously. I also tried jumping up and down on the bumper, moving the suspension up and down with a jack, etc., and the only thing that generates the clacking is actually driving the thing.

Anyway, the quick disconnects are still my prime suspect for the clacking problem. I thought I would see what other people's experiences have been.

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[omnitonic]

Looking around on here, there are a lot of threads about clicks and clunks and clacks with various styles of quick disconnects. I'm probably identifying the source of the noise correctly.

It dawned on me that if my main reason for wanting to carry a Hi-Lift jack is to make it easier to reconnect the links at the end of the day, then maybe instead of lugging around an awkward, heavy jack, I should just suck it up and buy the Apex autoLYNX.

I think that's the route I'm going to go.

 

[dirtdigr]

Looking around on here, there are a lot of threads about clicks and clunks and clacks with various styles of quick disconnects. I'm probably identifying the source of the noise correctly.

It dawned on me that if my main reason for wanting to carry a Hi-Lift jack is to make it easier to reconnect the links at the end of the day, then maybe instead of lugging around an awkward, heavy jack, I should just suck it up and buy the Apex autoLYNX.

I think that's the route I'm going to go.

Yup!!!.. Same here. I got so sick of all the clunks & squeeks from my Teraflex QD's I pulled them of and replaced them with the Apex. Never been happier!

 

[omnitonic]

Yup!!!.. Same here. I got so sick of all the clunks & squeeks from my Teraflex QD's I pulled them of and replaced them with the Apex. Never been happier!

What length did you go for when you adjusted them? The instructions say to make them match your existing link, erring on the side of going a little over, but I'm thinking I would make them a good deal shorter. Somewhere between the factory link and the overly long Teraflex QD link.

What kind of articulation do you get out of those things? I'm still getting my head around how they work. It seems like in the disconnected state, having free travel from the neutral to full droop position is a given, so the side that's flexing away from the wheel well gets all the flex it can take. I'm trying to figure out how the side that flexes toward the wheel well makes out. Doesn't the link bottom out at some point? Doesn't that limit upward travel to some degree?

I have awhile before I can even place an order, but I'm definitely going to pull the trigger on the autoLynx. I thought about it before anyway, but I put the links in the luxury, not necessity category. Now that I have logged a bunch of hours on these trails, the thing I hate most is when I reconnect my sway bars and air my tires back up to cover the last few miles back to pavement. I do it at a spot where it's convenient.

This spot, actually. It's crazy how my phone camera distorts the perspective. This is almost 45 degrees. It's pretty flat and firm at the bottom, and it's a good place to air up and pee the dog. Anyway, it's a good spot, but I hate the last few miles back to pavement, because the Jeep rides like crap. If I didn't have to find a relatively flat spot to hook back up, I could go almost all the way to pavement. Airing up isn't the problem. Hooking back up is the problem.

 

[dirtdigr]

What length did you go for when you adjusted them? The instructions say to make them match your existing link, erring on the side of going a little over, but I'm thinking I would make them a good deal shorter. Somewhere between the factory link and the overly long Teraflex QD link.

What kind of articulation do you get out of those things? I'm still getting my head around how they work. It seems like in the disconnected state, having free travel from the neutral to full droop position is a given, so the side that's flexing away from the wheel well gets all the flex it can take. I'm trying to figure out how the side that flexes toward the wheel well makes out. Doesn't the link bottom out at some point? Doesn't that limit upward travel to some degree?

I have awhile before I can even place an order, but I'm definitely going to pull the trigger on the autoLynx. I thought about it before anyway, but I put the links in the luxury, not necessity category. Now that I have logged a bunch of hours on these trails, the thing I hate most is when I reconnect my sway bars and air my tires back up to cover the last few miles back to pavement. I do it at a spot where it's convenient.

This spot, actually. It's crazy how my phone camera distorts the perspective. This is almost 45 degrees. It's pretty flat and firm at the bottom, and it's a good place to air up and pee the dog. Anyway, it's a good spot, but I hate the last few miles back to pavement, because the Jeep rides like crap. If I didn't have to find a relatively flat spot to hook back up, I could go almost all the way to pavement. Airing up isn't the problem. Hooking back up is the problem.

You wont regret getting the Apex disconnects. I get full articulation on my stock suspension while disconnected with just the twist of a knob, and re-connect by just the reverse twist. All you need to do to reconnect is push the sway bar down to lock one side and the other will snap into locked position as you drive. I installed them as close to stock length as possible (much shorter than the ridiculously long Teraflex). No more crawling around in the dirt after a long day trying to re-connect, absolutely love the Apex!

 

[omnitonic]

I installed them as close to stock length as possible (much shorter than the ridiculously long Teraflex). No more crawling around in the dirt after a long day trying to re-connect, absolutely love the Apex!

Even worse than dirt, this one spot has all this scrubby ground-hugging vegetation. Drop a pin or a washer into that. And oh yeah, that lightning was really close. Good thing I decided to leave the top on. Hunt hunt hunt, hunt hunt hunt. I need to add a magnetic part retriever to my kit, and buy a spare washer and pin. Hunt hunt hunt, hunt hunt hunt. Now the water valves in the sky open. Hunt hunt hunt, hunt hunt hunt. I now feel like someone is sticking a fire hose down my butt crack. Hunt hunt hunt, hunt hunt hunt.

Yeah. I'd be totally okay never experiencing that again. I'm sold. I'd order a set right now, but they aren't currently taking orders.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. In the meantime, I'll be clicking and clacking.

 

[dirtdigr]

Even worse than dirt, this one spot has all this scrubby ground-hugging vegetation. Drop a pin or a washer into that. And oh yeah, that lightning was really close. Good thing I decided to leave the top on. Hunt hunt hunt, hunt hunt hunt. I need to add a magnetic part retriever to my kit, and buy a spare washer and pin. Hunt hunt hunt, hunt hunt hunt. Now the water valves in the sky open. Hunt hunt hunt, hunt hunt hunt. I now feel like someone is sticking a fire hose down my butt crack. Hunt hunt hunt, hunt hunt hunt.

Yeah. I'd be totally okay never experiencing that again. I'm sold. I'd order a set right now, but they aren't currently taking orders.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. In the meantime, I'll be clicking and clacking.

Yup!... Been there too many times...

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