My Jeep JK is a Sahara edition, so it didn’t come with some of the fancy bells and whistles that come with a Rubicon edition. Over the years, I’ve added some of them to mine. I regeared the rear axle and added a selectable electric locker, and then I swapped out my factory Dana30 front axle for a Dana44 after regearing it to match the rear, adding a truss, chromoly shafts, and finally a DIY hydraulic steering assist.
One of the other convenient features of a Rubi is the electronic “SmartBar” that can disconnect at the push of a button for better suspension articulation. I bought a used smart bar from Craigslist for next to nothing because its electronic control board and motor were toast. That didn’t matter to me because my Sahara didn’t have the necessary buttons or wiring harness to control it anyway.
There are aftermarket kits that allow you to manually operate the internal disconnect, but they are really expensive for what little you get in the kit. I decided to make my own out of some scrap steel I already had on hand.
The project started with a spare tire mount from an old Jeep rear bumper.
I cut off the smaller plate from the rest of the part
I made a cardboard pattern of the center section of the Smart Bar housing, cut out the pattern, and then use a quick coat of spray paint to transfer the pattern to the steel plate.
That was a difficult shape to cut with an angle grinder, but I eventually liberated the shape from the original piece of steel.
I drilled the center hole and tapped it for the carriage bolt that I would use to actuate the disconnect.
I ground off the remainder of the powder coating that was still on the steel plate and test fit the new part on the Smart Bar.
Perfect fit! I 3D printed a knob to make it easier to use. Two more nuts “jammed” together create a positive stop so I don’t damage the internals of the actuator by running it in too deep. The jamb nuts and the knob got a dose of Loc-tite during final assembly.
With the test fit done, the last step was to paint it. It was a cold weekend, so the part had to come inside for paint, rtv, and loc-tite.
This is why we can’t have nice things - because I work on car parts on the kitchen table…
Anyway, the new manual actuator works perfect, cost me nothing, and is already installed and in use on the Jeep.