Apex AutoLYNX quick sway bar disconnect solution

[smokeythecat]

Any updates? I am looking at these but there don't seem to be many independent reviews so I'd like to hear from people not affiliated with the mfg. if possible.
I am tired of struggling with my quick disconnects. Needing level ground and another person to sit on the bumper etc. is getting old for this old man.

I bought these this week and this morning tried to install them. Be aware that if you have what I have, a stock 2021 Willys Sport, these will NOT work with the sway bar that comes installed.

Sponsored

 

[apexdesignsusa (Vendor)]

Hello,

@smokeythecat we saw you emailed over the weekend (we are closed on weekends) and we replied the next day. Paul also left you a voicemail yesterday to clarify regarding your concerns - hopefully that was enough to get you situated. Call us 844.414.APEX if you still have issues.

Please do contact APEX prior to asking help from a forum. We have lots of experience helping mount/install the AutoLYNX. There is a great deal of variation on Jeeps both aftermarket and factory.

In this case, the axle may not be centered or the the sway bar may not be centered. For Jeep it’s not a big deal, but when fitting other devices it may matter.

Please see attached for instructions on aligning (specifically pages 4 & 5). Please keep in mind the links are tough and can tolerate some angle.

APEX

I bought these this week and this morning tried to install them. Be aware that if you have what I have, a stock 2021 Willys Sport, these will NOT work with the sway bar that comes installed.

 

[smokeythecat]

Hello,

@smokeythecat we saw you emailed over the weekend (we are closed on weekends) and we replied the next day. Paul also left you a voicemail yesterday to clarify regarding your concerns - hopefully that was enough to get you situated. Call us 844.414.APEX if you still have issues.

Please do contact APEX prior to asking help from a forum. We have lots of experience helping mount/install the AutoLYNX. There is a great deal of variation on Jeeps both aftermarket and factory.

In this case, the axle may not be centered or the the sway bar may not be centered. For Jeep it’s not a big deal, but when fitting other devices it may matter.

Please see attached for instructions on aligning (specifically pages 4 & 5). Please keep in mind the links are tough and can tolerate some angle.

APEX

Thank you for your excellent customer service. I am committed to making this work because I like the product so much. I am planning on adding some spacers to mitigate the lean as much as possible.

 

[SlickRickMotoADV]

That reply from Apex sold me on these I think. I was THIS close to getting an ORO SwayLoc, but this seems far more simple and affordable. ORO is also seemingly impossible to get a hold of.

It looks like this is a quality product. The only holdup I've had is stock fender liner / sway bar fitment, but it looks like that's been addressed.

 

[blink9cd]

That reply from Apex sold me on these I think. I was THIS close to getting an ORO SwayLoc, but this seems far more simple and affordable. ORO is also seemingly impossible to get a hold of.

It looks like this is a quality product. The only holdup I've had is stock fender liner / sway bar fitment, but it looks like that's been addressed.

I'm looking at installing them this weekend. Hopefully it happens and I'll have good news to report!

 

[smokeythecat]

Follow up to an earlier post of mine. I will try to include a picture later. I installed the Apex AutoLynx tonight and it all seems really good. I ended up machining a couple of 0.40" spacers for the upper mount to get the links to be more vertical and less likely to rub on the fender liner. So far, so good.

Boy, are these things cool. I drove one wheel up on the curb of the driveway and then unlocked one of the AutoLynx. The front popped up about an inch, with zero effort involved. It would have been difficult if not impossible to remove links by hand, I imagine.

Of course, I haven't hit the trails with them yet, but so far they instill confidence.

 

[Gravytheclown]

Follow up to an earlier post of mine. I will try to include a picture later. I installed the Apex AutoLynx tonight and it all seems really good. I ended up machining a couple of 0.40" spacers for the upper mount to get the links to be more vertical and less likely to rub on the fender liner. So far, so good.

Boy, are these things cool. I drove one wheel up on the curb of the driveway and then unlocked one of the AutoLynx. The front popped up about an inch, with zero effort involved. It would have been difficult if not impossible to remove links by hand, I imagine.

Of course, I haven't hit the trails with them yet, but so far they instill confidence.

I have a set ready to install. I would love to see some after pics of your install. I too have a JLU willys. Did you do any spring change outs or are you all stock?

Gravy

 

[blink9cd]

I have a set ready to install. I would love to see some after pics of your install. I too have a JLU willys. Did you do any spring change outs or are you all stock?

Gravy

All stock! All mods I've done are functional, aesthetic, or for security but have nothing to do with suspension, engine, etc.

 

[smokeythecat]

I have a set ready to install. I would love to see some after pics of your install. I too have a JLU willys. Did you do any spring change outs or are you all stock?

Gravy

I don't have a JLU Willys, I have a 2 door. It is, however, completely stock. Here are a couple of photos that show the passenger side installed. I already got them dirty today.

The first picture should give you and idea of the overall install angle after I put in a large spacer.

I

Close of up the spacer. Without it I was unhappy with the severe tilt over of the link.

To cap off this post I will say I tried them out today, but not on anything truly worthy. It was just a mountain road with lots of bumps. But man, it was the first time I experienced having the sway bars disconnected and the difference was amazing. I realize you do it for articulation to keep the tires in contact, but the difference in ride is also a plus. At slow speeds, mind you!

 

[Gravytheclown]

That’s the main reason I got them. The Wife and I aren’t the Rick crawling type. We both love a good hike and the Jeep is a tool to get to some new hikes. I know if I disconnect the swaybar it will be a much better ride for her. Happy wife pleasant hike.
Gravy

 

[blink9cd]

Ok I installed them today! It was quite the process. I think *a lot* of detail will be incoming, maybe two posts worth...I'm not sure how to structure it, but I guess we'll start with the install first. I have a stock '21 JLU Willys.

Not trying to sound dramatic, but the install was much more challenging than advertised. I'm pretty new to all this, but I installed with my friend who's a race instructor, has built an engine, can machine his own parts, has an so many tools, etc. We still ran into issues and to be frank I don't think I had the knowledge or tools to do it on my own. We tried to do things as close as possible to what Apex said, but I relied on his intuition and experience to fill in the gaps.

Hopefully these notes I have will supplement what they have to make it easier for others.

* Not explicitly included in the instructions, but useful to have a jack so you can easily move the wheels at will to make stuff easier to bolt in (or remove the wheels like I saw in one third party video, but we didn't have to do that). He has a nice floor jack/jack stands but all I have is the supplied scissor jack so I wouldn't have been prepared. If you don't do it'd be harder to get tools to fit down there...at many points we had to move wheels out of the way for wrench clearance.

* Not in the instructions, but it was super useful to have a ratcheting socket wrench with a hole in the middle so we could fit the hex key. If we had just used a manual wrench it would've taken forever. And it seemed to need to be in there tight so it wouldn't spin anymore and the torque wrench could do its magic (torque wrench has no spot for hex key).

* It could be a lot clearer with is the driver side end link and which is passenger side. They don't seem labeled on the links and we dug through pages trying to figure it out and saw one picture on the last page that cleared it up. Not sure why it's not just printed on the links themselves there since so many other pieces I've worked with are much more explicit. Or at least put the orientation on page 1.

* I think we used 18mm and 19mm sockets for the bolts to the end links and the sway bar itself. I didn't see that included in the instructions, but maybe it varies if you're not stock? Also there was no real torque instructions for the end links...just said use factory specifications. I did a quick search online and settled on 50 foot pounds from a table I found on a forum.

* My sway bar end links are 5.25" or a little bigger. The lowest setting on the 6.5". That's a *big* difference and not really mentioned in the instructions. Just "the length that most closely matches the old link"...well the deltas past 6.5" are much closer to each other (.7") and in the videos they have a match that's way closer. That was not an inspiring start (see picture 1)

* Under "snap ring reclamation notes", the line about "the body is hard anodized so scratches are unlikely" is uh...not what I experienced. The ends of the ring definitely scratched the body no matter what we did. It only mattered because we thought I might have to return it at some point. His vice was super helpful, I have a hard time imagining moving the snap rings without it.

* There was *a lot* of space on the driver side sway bar end and the Apex link. Like so much my friend was convinced there'd be no way it'd work (pictures 2/3/4). We tried undoing the bolts to move the sway bar over with our legs, with a pry bar but it just didn't have enough room to travel (and clearly didn't when we measure...like no where close. Picture 5 shows curving on one side, didn't get the other). We tried pulling/pushing and got it to move a little, maybe removed the need for washer or two. It seems like the stock sway bar link is curved and extended much farther out than Apex (picture 6). That should explain a lot of the heartache

* The alignment instructions posted by @apexdesignsusa (Vendor) above in response to @smokeythecat were very helpful, but were NOT included in the box. I don't think we would've been confident in what to do if I hadn't been a member of this forum and had seen that post THIS week. I'm happy it worked out that way, but that's a pretty big coincidence

* We had to go to Home Depot to buy washers for spacers. I think we settled on M12 washers? Forgive me for not remembering, but I threw the trash away at his his place, I remember trying 1/2" washers since that was in the page in the forums but we think they seemed way too large and wobbly around the Apex bolt. 3/8" was too small...For metric, I think M10 was too small and M12 was the closest fit. Perhaps an M11 could've been perfect but they didn't have that. I don't have any good pictures of that for some reason, we might've used 3 on top and 2 on bottom? Just for driver side...the passenger side didn't need anything. Maybe in the last picture 7 you can see a washer from that angle

* Their customer service is closed on Sunday (we tried calling), so if you're working on this over the weekend and run into trouble or have questions, it's awesome they're willing to post in here and call and help, but if this is you're daily driver (my situation), think about that a bit if you pick Sunday to do it...cause you're gonna need the Jeep the next day (or in my case, to get back home!)

Overall it was installed I'm not unhappy with the product, as you'll see in the next post, but I don't think these instructions were explicit enough. I'm a relative beginner and have been using the Jeep to learn about tools, off roading, and installing everything myself... Thus I rely a lot more in the instructions, the labeling of the pieces, what tools I'll need, etc. and have had way more success with the more explicit instructions that come with a lot of other mods I've installed.

Especially since my friend had questions, I think these instructions were written by someone really close to the product, had the ideal scenario of long/centered sway bar, and perhaps not tested with people a bit farther removed, and maybe not updated with the help they've provided for others. For what it's worth, I know there's a lot of variation out there, but this is a stock JL and in my day job I have to write instructions for people with way less experience than me on other types of tools so have experience in this domain.

Anyway this is long enough, next one will show off more how they look and function!

 

[smokeythecat]

@blink9cd Glad you got them installed! I agree that the instructions could be a bit better done. As far as tools go I suppose it might have been helpful to suggest a ratcheting combination wrench. I did it without one. I just put on my patience hat and didn't take all that long.

With a friend who has access to machining tools you should have asked him to make you a couple of 0.40" spacers like I posted in the pictures above! That was the thing that finally did the trick for me. But I think Apex should have noted that it is OK to space them out as far as you need (as long as the threads still make it flush to the outside of the nut, of course).

The difference between the stock sway bar length and the Apex minimum adjustment should only result in about a 7 degree upward displacement of the sway bar. As you will read elsewhere a slight upward tilt is perfectly acceptable. A negative tilt is not.

And finally, did you try rubbing your finger on those retainer ring scratches? Mine came right off. But really, it's not going to matter much considering where they are installed.

Have fun!

 

[blink9cd]

Hopefully this post won't be as long. Just to get things out of the way, no the mud isn't from testing them out haha. It's from doing an off road course a couple weeks ago...two car washes later and there's still plenty to go around.

Picture 1 is of stock sway bar end links in my '21 JLU Willys. Pictures 2/3/4 are of them installed and locked...looking now not sure they're the best pictures but they're what I have. If someone needs more I could take them.

We did a test driving up a small wheel ramp driver's side pre and post unlocking which you can see the pictures. Picture 5/6 is driver/passenger fender (respectively) when on the ramp and locked. Picture 6/7 is driver/passenger when on the ramp and unlocked. Even with the small wheel ramp there's quite a bit of difference after unlocking and we were excited to see it work. From what I can tell so far it doesn't seem like I'd need to trim any of the plastic fender liners.

From my test so far, unlocking couldn't have been much easier. Truly a 10 second operation, maybe that's overstating it even. Picture 8 is just what it looks like unlocked. Locking back was slightly harder, like I had to pull harder than I thought to hear the click but I'm sure it'll be easier with experience.

As far as my questions go, I can confirm nothing permanent was done to the Jeep like the solutions that require cutting. My drive home was over many miles and I couldn't tell they were installed. They clearly fit a stock Jeep (some install issues, but in the end they work).

Overall I'm happy I got them. My friend was impressed and thought the engineering was clever. I'm excited to take them out for real sometime!

 

[blink9cd]

@blink9cd Glad you got them installed! I agree that the instructions could be a bit better done. As far as tools go I suppose it might have been helpful to suggest a ratcheting combination wrench. I did it without one. I just put on my patience hat and didn't take all that long.

With a friend who has access to machining tools you should have asked him to make you a couple of 0.40" spacers like I posted in the pictures above! That was the thing that finally did the trick for me. But I think Apex should have noted that it is OK to space them out as far as you need (as long as the threads still make it flush to the outside of the nut, of course).

The difference between the stock sway bar length and the Apex minimum adjustment should only result in about a 7 degree upward displacement of the sway bar. As you will read elsewhere a slight upward tilt is perfectly acceptable. A negative tilt is not.

And finally, did you try rubbing your finger on those retainer ring scratches? Mine came right off. But really, it's not going to matter much considering where they are installed.

Have fun!

You must have a really large patience hat I wish we had time for spacers! Your solution with the spacer looks nicer than stacking washers. But we had to finish this before it was dark so I'd have a drivable Jeep and could go home!

We did push the sway bar up so it would line up so glad that was considered ok. I did not try rubbing my finger on the retainer ring scratches so can't say if they'd go away. I agree that I don't care since I mean to go off roading with it, it's just funny to read "this won't scratch" in the instructions and then immediately scratches. I was mostly worried and taking pictures in case I'd have to return it.

Did you say a gravely mountain road is enough to test what the difference in ride quality will be like? I'm itching to try them on something!

 

[smokeythecat]

Did you say a gravely mountain road is enough to test what the difference in ride quality will be like? I'm itching to try them on something!

A gravely road isn't really enough. You need something with some uneven dips and bumps in it from side to side. But I think you'll notice the difference right away!

I also meant to add for anyone else reading that I did the complete install without jacking up the vehicle.

Sponsored