What's this part for?

It's the rod that is mounted to both the frame and the top of the front axle in the pic. Anyone know if this was factory or some homebrew setup? I haven't seen another CJ in my area with this. It is a two piece rod that's threaded so it could be lengthened or shortened. The only thing I see it doing is limitting my suspension travel and possibly swinging the front end slightly to the left as the suspension travels. Is it safe to remove this? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Never seen that before.

 

It reminds me of a Panhard bar on a racecar. The rearend in a NASCAR style late model uses a 4 link suspension setup with Heim ends on all 8 ends of the links. The rearend is free to float side to side in the car. The Panhard bar holds it from moving sideways, and is adjustable to change the roll center of the rear of the car.
Why is that on your Jeep? I don't have a bloody clue. Personally I'd take it off since it does try to move the entire axle to the right as the suspension compresses. That can cause some serious suspension bind issues and some steering issues as well. Just my .02

PS - Might want to change that knuckle seal while you're in there

 

If this is what I think it is, No it wont hurt anything to take it off. I saw one of these a short time back, It helps side to side walk caused by front leaf springs, and helps with overall drivability. Dont think it would be worth a darn off road though.

 

Appears to be a homebrew track bar that is useless with the leaf springs. The track bar locates the axle laterally on a coil sprung Jeep. The leaf springs do this all by themselves. I would get rid of it.

 

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Looks like I'll be removing it tonight. I knew it had to be limitting overall suspension travel when offroad but hadn't thought about the lean issue when corning. It could be a whole new adventure driving around town afterwards. Thanks again for the info.