JKS Telescoping Trackbar for YJ's

By James Hasler

 

YJ's are notorious for having ZERO articulation when stock. This is solely attributed to having front and rear trackbars and a VERY large diameter front sway-bar. For the swaybar, you can get disconnects. For the rear trackbar, most builders simply toss it. I certainly couldn't tell it wasn't there on the road, but I sure enjoyed the increased articulation off-road. As for the front trackbar, however, everyone seems to have their own opinion. In my case, I run my shackle bolts loose to get a better ride and increased axle articulation. Without a front trackbar, the axle has quite a bit of play side to side. When the axle does this shifting, the steering wheel moves accordingly. This can be a bit disconcerting when going around a corner on the freeway and hitting a bump. All of a sudden the steering wheel shifts a good 1/8th of a rotation in your hands!!!

Also, if you've ever looked at your front upper shackle mounts, they do not look like they were designed to handle excessive lateral loads. In my opinion, I'd like to have that trackbar installed when I'm going 70 mph.

The most convenient solution to this road manners vs. articulation debate comes in the form of JKS Telescoping trackbar.

It replaces your stock front trackbar and comes with large heim joints on either end. It also removes the trackbar bracket that you might have added when you installed a lift kit so that the stock bar would bolt up. In my case, that bracket caused bump steer as the trackbar and draglink no longer travelled in the same arc. With the telescoping unit, you eliminate bumpsteer on the road and you simple loosen a bolt to have full articulation off-road.

The trackbar also comes with a zerk fitting so that you can make sure that the bar telescopes smoothly. Below you can see the clamp that holds the two pieces of the trackbar from telescoping. And yes, the heim joint has surface rust on it, but I've been running with this setup for close to 1.5 years now, with no noise coming from the heim joints.

Below is another picture of the trackbar installed. Notice how the draglink and trackbar are parallel with one another.

Overall, I've been extremely pleased with the JKS unit. They claim up to 30% more front wheel travel with no front trackbar and I believe it. If you're looking for increased wheel travel for your YJ while still being a safe daily driver, the JKS Telescoping trackbar is a great investment!!!