Sway Bar End Link totally stripped?

SupersixEVO

SupersixEVO

Greenie N00B Member
So I decided to install my JBR sway bar today and I get under the car and find this.

The driver side end link is totally stripped off, lol. The passenger side one is totally fine. Well I guess it's time to upgrade both, lol.

Has this happened to anyone else?
I'm going to go ahead and go through the install and then park the car until I get the new end links.
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I had to use a angle grinder to get my last set off. Threads were good, but years of salt and rust did a number on them. That looks like the nut was loose and the bar was sliding back and forth to remove the threads.
 
Yup, that can happen to endlinks.

Buy OEM style endlinks, dont bother getting any adjustable type. Adjustable ones have a tendency of breaking just as much as OEM if not quicker. Not worth the investment at all for the rear.
 
Mauro_Penguin said:
Yup, that can happen to endlinks.

Buy OEM style endlinks, dont bother getting any adjustable type. Adjustable ones have a tendency of breaking just as much as OEM if not quicker. Not worth the investment at all for the rear.
Click to expand...
Alright that sounds good. All I need is one so it will only be like $40 instead of the $130 or so that a pair of adjustable end links would cost.

Looks like it's going to be a PITA to install. I know what I'm doing next weekend, lol.

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Use a box wrench to loosen the nut at the top of the control arm.
Swing down sway bar and swap endlinks.
Swing back up and torque down.

You just need ramps. It's not a hard or long job.
 
Mauro_Penguin said:
Use a box wrench to loosen the nut at the top of the control arm.
Swing down sway bar and swap endlinks.
Swing back up and torque down.

You just need ramps. It's not a hard or long job.
Click to expand...

Nice! I didn't even know what a box wrench was until I just looked it up.
Yeah, with that the install should be much easier. I already have the ramps too so this should go smooth.
Thanks for the tip, man.
 
I put the Whiteline end links in a while back when one of mine was almost worn....here in the desert we don’t get rust and corrosion. The Whiteline are definitely heavier in construction but can make some pretty incredible creaking sounds for the first couple thousand miles. There are threads about it here somewhere. Now that I figured out what it is, it stopped doing it. Oh well. I was concerned that the stock units looked too lightweight for the stronger CS antisway bar, so I upgraded. Not sure it was necessary, but now that it is not creaking like the suspension is gonna break, all is good.


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For the record, our stock endlinks are pretty tough.

The only time they will fail is of they are over tightened and stripped like the OP had on his car, OR if you have a LOT of preload on the bar and one side gets smashed or strained.

You will know if you have preload on stock style links when you swing the sway bar up to tighten the endlinks, and seat the endlink on the control arm. If one endlink has wiggle room and the other one seats flat, there is preload. DO NOT tighten the wiggling endlink expecting it to stretch, that's how they break. Instead you will toss some fat face washers that fit the endlink between the link and control arm to get rid of the wiggle. Then you can tighten them.
 
One thing I did notice between the OEM end links and the replacement end link is that the OEM link was much easier to manipulate to get into the desired sway bar hole. The replacement links were far stiffer and took some muscle to move into position to slide into the sway bar. Is the difference in stiffness because the OEM links are old and almost worn out or are the new end link just stiffer than OEM?
 
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