After many times second guessing myself, I finally said to myself, no, you checked all that stuff. There's nothing wrong with any of that. What didn't you check? Well, my mind started to turn towards let's call it "sway steer." Like bump steer, but not exactly.
Well, what controls sway. The swaybar, and to some extent shock absorbers. So, I said to myself, maybe I should remove one swaybar link and pull up and down on the bar on that side to check for play. Here are the results, 3 inches of play. See pics...
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I removed the SmartBar completely. Note that there is another thread by DamageWagon that I viewed to get some insight. The one difference between his and mine is that I have an Abel Components swaybar/locker bypass. So, I have eliminated the SmartBar module that filled with water and fried a couple years ago. In his post, he is still sporting the OEM SmartBar module and actuator. Mine has a non-OEM actuator. So, first I remove the whole smartbar, but I also wanted to check functionality of the Abel actuator, which operated fine, so I split that open and verfifed it was working. If you spot the short piece of PCV, that is what Abel's actuator pushed on to reach the wishbone inside the smart bar coupler housing to lock/unlock the swaybar:
I reattached the Abel actuator and bracket back onto the coupler housing. I then split open the SmartBar coupler housing to see what was going on with the locking/ unlocking hardware. In DamageWagon's post, he found his housing was packed with dirt/grit/grime. In mine, it had a good amount of dirt/grit/grime. Not packed, but had a significant amount. Also, you could see some original white grease that was actually still whitish. There also seems to be significant rust/oxidation on the moving parts (wishbone, locking ring and splines). In these pictures you can also see the I hooked up the actuator and cycled it so you can see where it sits in the connected spot and how much it protruded when unlocked. The wishbone and locking ring only moves about 1/2" to 3/4"
So, I used a toothbrush, screwdriver, paper towels and a lot of brake cleaner to rinse out all the grime. I pulled the wishbone and locking ring out of the housing to aid in cleaning thoroughly. I also used moly grease to lubricate all parts before I put it all together. I didn't cake it up, because I didn't want extra grease to pick up more grit and cause obstruction down the line. I just wanted to protect and lubricate. In the following photos you will see that I am pointing at the two surfaces that have to mate and slide between the wishbone and the housing where the actuator will press on it. My intuition is that a little bit of grit or corrosion could prevent the wishbone piece to not slide in fully as it relies on an opposing spring to make the wishbone and locking ring to retract fully. Additionally, I suspect any extra grime or grit in the housing generally could interfere with the wishbone and locking ring from fully restracting. After cleaning and greasing everything, bolted everything together and reinstalled. The coupler locks and relocks freely now, and my handling is night and day. I surmised mine was partially relocking and would catch after 15 - 20 degrees of rotation allowing a certain amount of body roll, catching, causing sway steer, and requiring micro adjustment, rinse and repeat. Now that it is controlling body roll immediately, that floaty/darty behaviour is gone.
