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TL;DR The Apex airLYNX may be the best "disconnect" option for us non-disconnect broncos, but at the end of the day Apex brand quality and care is bar none.
If you're not already familiar with Apex as a Brand, please check out their Compact Air Reel and Tire Valve stems. I've installed both of these on my bronco and combined they are hands down my favorite upgrade. I know, Speedflate makes some attractive systems for this application, but when it comes it rapid inflate/deflate options, overall organization and quality, I'm not sure anything beats the simplicity of the APEX setup.
But we're not here for that, we're here for the new APEX AirLYNX which is entering this chat as the 4th to market option for Sway bar "disconnects" on the 2021+ Bronco.
'
Source: Apex
Predecessors include:
1) AC Fabs Sasquatch Links, of which there are many copy cat versions out there (true disconnect)
2) Rock Jock by Currie Antirock or Carli Torsion Bar (torsion bar design)
3) BOSS walker links (non-progressive 1.5" open links)
Of course there are other options as well:
1) Simply unbolting the end links during off-road use is probably the simplest and most effective.
2) Taking that a step further and going the nut-up or shut-up route of removing the sway bar and links all together, forever.
3) Securing yourself a Badlands Sway bar disconnect and wiring it up to some relays, and getting the correct underbody protective plates.
I briefly ran the AC fab disconnects and almost immediately became unimpressed. They made clunking noises when connected and when it came time to disconnect or reconnect I found myself fighting them every time, literally hitting them with a pipe wrench to get them to slide into place. After a solid day of trail riding everything was just covered in mud making the whole experience even less fun. In fact, it was this experience that led me to reinstall my stock Ford end links. When it came time to off-road I just unbolted the bottom 21mm bolt and used a zip-tie to secure the end link up and away on the Sway bar itself. For $0 I could do exactly what the ACfab end links offered but easier and for $450 less.
As for the other 2 options, I haven't run them. You can find endless debate between installing JKS quick disconnects, and Anti-rock options in the Jeep community but at the end of the day, a lot of it comes down to personal preference. I won't say much about Boss Walker-links other then they're more expensive then the Apex option have 1.5 inches less of free travel with zero of the adjustability. Personally I like the idea of a complete disconnect for off-roading, and if JKS made a kit for the bronco, I probably would have bought that given the years of experience they have making quality kit for this application.
But, Broncos are not Jeeps, and we have IFS to deal with, giving the bronco a lot more in common with the FJ, 4Runner and Gx470 whose owners are no strangers to completely removing the front sway bar. Leaving or installing a rear sway bar can actually improve overall performance as it adds more balance to the vehicle. For better explanation on this checkout Tinkerer's Adventure video on Articulation vs. Sway bars. There are massive benefits to going rear long travel and adding a rear and Sway bar - for those of us that don't already have one. Someday this may be the direction I go in with my Bronco.
Anyway at this point I've pulled the recipe bloggers equivalent of providing a whole life story before I get to what we all came here for.
I installed Apex AirLYNX end links and they almost immediately stopped working. Okay, that's not the review, but it is honest. By the end of a weekend long trip to Uwharrie National Forest with SEGen6 an Atlanta based Bronco group I was not feeling very impressed. I knew I got way more flex having my end links removed, and as it turns out, somewhere in those 2 days of off-roading these end-links had completely seized.
So what happened; I have a part from a company that I've already come to appreciate the quality of their components and these quit in 48 hours. I got in touch with Apex and they sent me a shipping label to have me send them back for diagnostics, a few days later Paul Cox who founded Apex gave me a call.
Paul is a chill guy, who previously worked on product design at Fox Racing and Teraflex. Learning this it was no longer a surprise why Apex components are such high quality. We talked for an hour, about all things bronco, suspension, and some very exciting future developments to come from Apex, and also; what went wrong with this airLYNX. As it turns out, the oil they used inside of the airLYNX was incompatible enough with the internal bump stop to cause excessive wear/swelling which ultimately caused the end result. Paul gave me a choice, refund for what I spent, or receive brand new airLYNX with a new oil. I took option 2. I received my replacement AirLYNX about a week after that. In fact, anyone who purchased a set of airLYNX for either the Bronco or Toyota got a new set sent to them a no charge with a letter explaining what went wrong telling owners to keep the old links and display them, toss them, but please don't resell them
The new links arrived last week and over the independence day holiday we took a day ride out to Beasley Knob. This time the airLYNX performed as expected, and maybe even better than I expected. There were several moments of decent off-camber and with the airLYNX @ 0 psi I comfortably kept all 4 tires on the ground probably 98% of the time. The difference was night and day from the prior trip. The experience was better then expected because I wasn't really sure I was going to be sold on a non-fully disconnected option, but in the end, these really felt like a complete disconnect most of the time. This is in part because 3" is about 30% of the total front end travel on a Sasquatch bronco, but also moving the sway bar upwards slightly biases engagement. The added length reduces tension on the Sway bar so @ 0 psi you're not getting the same back pressure on the opposing wheel when articulated. Full disclosure, I'm also running Bilstein 6112's which are the same length as a stock SAS shock with increased preload. I may have less articulation to compensate for then a stock height SAS.
A few notes. The airLYNX have a more involved install then just about every other option out there. Relocating some brake lines to clear the additional room the end links will take up. Installing a Currie antirock would certainly be easier, but other then a complete disconnect none of the available alternate options give you the ability to get that stock OEM feel for a front end swaybar other then ACfab or an airLYNX, and the airLYNX is the only one that really lets you fine tune that pressure. Right now I'm running about 150 psi on the street and 0 psi offroad. Apex shows about 200+ psi being comparable to having a non-compressible link and I agree based on drive feel so far.
Source: Apex
For 2.3L bronco owners*; Apex now notes on their page that this setup is, caution; not formanual owners 2.3L owners (See note below). That said, I'm a 2.3L manual Bronco owner. This update comes down to the driver side brake line relocation. The 2.3L broncos do not have the same hydraulic booster as our electronically assisted 2.7L counterparts. So, for 2.3L Broncos, the drivers brake line there is a lot more movement/bending required to get the line to match up with the supplied relocation bracket. I'll be honest, it's a bit of brake line origami. I contacted Apex about this during my install because it was a good bit different than the instructions showed, but in the end I got it to work just fine. You do run the risk of collapsing that brake line while bending and if you do that you're in a real pickle. So if you have a 2.3L Bronco, and you decide to go ahead and make the install, great, but if you screw it up you can't go blaming them. So don't screw it up. Below is a picture of mine. My POV, this was not that bad, but it certainly has room for error. Considering this impacts all 2.3L broncos and not just manuals, it's possible Apex will consider a change.
* @HPNQ420 pointed out below, all 2.3L are vacuum boosted, so this brake line relocation impacts all 2.3L owners not just manual owners. I did confirm with a 2.3L automatic owner the brake line routing is the same.
I'll end with this final note. The day may come where I install long travel rear suspension kit and completely abandon a front sway bar, but until I commit to that significant of an overhaul, the airLYNX is the best available option for front end sway bar "disconnects" personal preference may push you to installing one of the other options. If you want the ability to adjust for on and off-road performance airLYNX is king. With preference in mind, customer service and quality are the next two things I care about, I'm not holding the minor mistake against Apex. I debated not even brining it up, but honestly, I'm so impressed by how the handled the issue, that I hope my story does not detract anyone from going this route.
If you're not already familiar with Apex as a Brand, please check out their Compact Air Reel and Tire Valve stems. I've installed both of these on my bronco and combined they are hands down my favorite upgrade. I know, Speedflate makes some attractive systems for this application, but when it comes it rapid inflate/deflate options, overall organization and quality, I'm not sure anything beats the simplicity of the APEX setup.
But we're not here for that, we're here for the new APEX AirLYNX which is entering this chat as the 4th to market option for Sway bar "disconnects" on the 2021+ Bronco.
Source: Apex
Predecessors include:
1) AC Fabs Sasquatch Links, of which there are many copy cat versions out there (true disconnect)
2) Rock Jock by Currie Antirock or Carli Torsion Bar (torsion bar design)
3) BOSS walker links (non-progressive 1.5" open links)
Of course there are other options as well:
1) Simply unbolting the end links during off-road use is probably the simplest and most effective.
2) Taking that a step further and going the nut-up or shut-up route of removing the sway bar and links all together, forever.
3) Securing yourself a Badlands Sway bar disconnect and wiring it up to some relays, and getting the correct underbody protective plates.
I briefly ran the AC fab disconnects and almost immediately became unimpressed. They made clunking noises when connected and when it came time to disconnect or reconnect I found myself fighting them every time, literally hitting them with a pipe wrench to get them to slide into place. After a solid day of trail riding everything was just covered in mud making the whole experience even less fun. In fact, it was this experience that led me to reinstall my stock Ford end links. When it came time to off-road I just unbolted the bottom 21mm bolt and used a zip-tie to secure the end link up and away on the Sway bar itself. For $0 I could do exactly what the ACfab end links offered but easier and for $450 less.
As for the other 2 options, I haven't run them. You can find endless debate between installing JKS quick disconnects, and Anti-rock options in the Jeep community but at the end of the day, a lot of it comes down to personal preference. I won't say much about Boss Walker-links other then they're more expensive then the Apex option have 1.5 inches less of free travel with zero of the adjustability. Personally I like the idea of a complete disconnect for off-roading, and if JKS made a kit for the bronco, I probably would have bought that given the years of experience they have making quality kit for this application.
But, Broncos are not Jeeps, and we have IFS to deal with, giving the bronco a lot more in common with the FJ, 4Runner and Gx470 whose owners are no strangers to completely removing the front sway bar. Leaving or installing a rear sway bar can actually improve overall performance as it adds more balance to the vehicle. For better explanation on this checkout Tinkerer's Adventure video on Articulation vs. Sway bars. There are massive benefits to going rear long travel and adding a rear and Sway bar - for those of us that don't already have one. Someday this may be the direction I go in with my Bronco.
Anyway at this point I've pulled the recipe bloggers equivalent of providing a whole life story before I get to what we all came here for.
I installed Apex AirLYNX end links and they almost immediately stopped working. Okay, that's not the review, but it is honest. By the end of a weekend long trip to Uwharrie National Forest with SEGen6 an Atlanta based Bronco group I was not feeling very impressed. I knew I got way more flex having my end links removed, and as it turns out, somewhere in those 2 days of off-roading these end-links had completely seized.
So what happened; I have a part from a company that I've already come to appreciate the quality of their components and these quit in 48 hours. I got in touch with Apex and they sent me a shipping label to have me send them back for diagnostics, a few days later Paul Cox who founded Apex gave me a call.
Paul is a chill guy, who previously worked on product design at Fox Racing and Teraflex. Learning this it was no longer a surprise why Apex components are such high quality. We talked for an hour, about all things bronco, suspension, and some very exciting future developments to come from Apex, and also; what went wrong with this airLYNX. As it turns out, the oil they used inside of the airLYNX was incompatible enough with the internal bump stop to cause excessive wear/swelling which ultimately caused the end result. Paul gave me a choice, refund for what I spent, or receive brand new airLYNX with a new oil. I took option 2. I received my replacement AirLYNX about a week after that. In fact, anyone who purchased a set of airLYNX for either the Bronco or Toyota got a new set sent to them a no charge with a letter explaining what went wrong telling owners to keep the old links and display them, toss them, but please don't resell them
The new links arrived last week and over the independence day holiday we took a day ride out to Beasley Knob. This time the airLYNX performed as expected, and maybe even better than I expected. There were several moments of decent off-camber and with the airLYNX @ 0 psi I comfortably kept all 4 tires on the ground probably 98% of the time. The difference was night and day from the prior trip. The experience was better then expected because I wasn't really sure I was going to be sold on a non-fully disconnected option, but in the end, these really felt like a complete disconnect most of the time. This is in part because 3" is about 30% of the total front end travel on a Sasquatch bronco, but also moving the sway bar upwards slightly biases engagement. The added length reduces tension on the Sway bar so @ 0 psi you're not getting the same back pressure on the opposing wheel when articulated. Full disclosure, I'm also running Bilstein 6112's which are the same length as a stock SAS shock with increased preload. I may have less articulation to compensate for then a stock height SAS.
A few notes. The airLYNX have a more involved install then just about every other option out there. Relocating some brake lines to clear the additional room the end links will take up. Installing a Currie antirock would certainly be easier, but other then a complete disconnect none of the available alternate options give you the ability to get that stock OEM feel for a front end swaybar other then ACfab or an airLYNX, and the airLYNX is the only one that really lets you fine tune that pressure. Right now I'm running about 150 psi on the street and 0 psi offroad. Apex shows about 200+ psi being comparable to having a non-compressible link and I agree based on drive feel so far.
Source: Apex
For 2.3L bronco owners*; Apex now notes on their page that this setup is, caution; not for
* @HPNQ420 pointed out below, all 2.3L are vacuum boosted, so this brake line relocation impacts all 2.3L owners not just manual owners. I did confirm with a 2.3L automatic owner the brake line routing is the same.
I'll end with this final note. The day may come where I install long travel rear suspension kit and completely abandon a front sway bar, but until I commit to that significant of an overhaul, the airLYNX is the best available option for front end sway bar "disconnects" personal preference may push you to installing one of the other options. If you want the ability to adjust for on and off-road performance airLYNX is king. With preference in mind, customer service and quality are the next two things I care about, I'm not holding the minor mistake against Apex. I debated not even brining it up, but honestly, I'm so impressed by how the handled the issue, that I hope my story does not detract anyone from going this route.
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