I have been using the bar for about 6 months, with stock bushings and end links. They look 100% fine.

The thing is I have both the front and rear addco bars. Although I realize the front takes the most stress, the rear does help out. some. Could it be the additional stress the rear wimpy stock bar cannot handle is adding to the stress of the front Addco bar (For those of you who only have one addco bar?) Could that be causing the cracking?

My two cents....

 

First off, if you are using just the front or rear Addco bar you are making a big mistake. Addco is a very well respected company that does their homework and these bars were carefully engineered to give the most neutral handling characteristics. Depending on which way you go, you will realize under or over steer (heavier front or heavier rear) and that is not good at all. DON'T DO IT!

I am reading that you were using stock bushings and unless you mean stock Addco bushings, I do not see how you can do it? It is fine to use rubber bushings but the effect will be softer than with polyurathane bushings and the rubber bushings will wear more quickly.

As for the fact that the "L" adapter brackets come loose or detach because the bolt backs out, that should be easily remedied and the more I think about it the less I like the idea of using the OE ball socket endlinks with the skimpy bushings. I am going to figure out how to affect a good installation of the Addco endlinks and bushings or order new endlinks from ES.

 

From reading the above, it sounds like alot of folks are only using one bar, or they are just not mentioning the rear bar in this thread. I do not know how he did it (I watched, but Gadget's brother is actually the one who installed these for me.) He has installed them for Gadget before.......

I meant stock toyota bushings.... He could not get the Addco bushings onto the stock end links, they were too tall.
But I got under my truck in 20 degree weather, the whole system looks fine. Even from Jalaber 's write up I could not figure out how to use Addco's end link replacements, not to mention I could not find a place that had the zinc plated hardware that you should use on cars. Grrrr

 

Well at first I was using the 16mm long factory bolts to secure the sway bar brackets to the rear mounts. They are too short and started to come loose, completly trashing one of my brackets. Then I switched to 20mm legnth bolts added a thicker split lock washer and flat washer and it has held up ever since. Also remember in order to use the ES rear brackets you need to first elongate the slotted holes in the brackets so the bracket lays flat against its mount after inserting the bolts.

 

Okay, you are talking about the end link bushings. All we did was to use the front bushings on the rear and the rear bushings on the front --- simple. I would also bet that most people are using both bars. You are correct that you could not use the standard thickness end link bushings on the OEM end links because the bar is too thick at the mounting hole and the end link rod is not threaded down far enough.

 

Can sombody clarify wether or not anyboby is using the Addco endlinks with thier swaybars. As it was mentioned above Addco spends alot of time and research doing what they do well and the sway bar kit is made specifically for the 3rd gen. 4Runner. With that said why are we using the oem endlinks other than the fact that a ball and joint may be preffered in some folks mind but obviously not in Addcos design. Isn't the reason that the Addco links are a inch or so shorter is to maintain thier vertical position and possibly stonger material for the increased demand?(as stated in their installation help part of their site)
In Gadgets write up on his site there's no mention of retaining the oe endlinks unless you are upgrading to ES bushing without the sway bars. I realize this may not be the cause of the bracket defect or brakage but I got the setup on order and now I'm hesitant to install it without some difinitive direction.Should I just follow the Addco install directions and reinforce the brackets? I was refering to JA's site but I'm not sold on the endlink situation.
P.S. Is the broken bracket the Addco or ES bushing bracket?

http://www.addco.net/install.shtml#intallnotes

 

1) IMHO, I would go with the Addco endlinks and PU bushings.

2) The broken bracket is made by ES and is not reated for trucks or HD applications.

 

I finally located my Addco hardware and am wondering if anyone knows off the top of their heads whether the gussetted L-brackets need to have holes drilled at the mounting points on the vehicle or if there are holes already there. I am trying to avoid haing to crawl under the truck right now to take a look. The L-brackets are slopily constructed with regards to the welds and angles but they do look ver sturdy --- I hope.

I thought it was interesting that the endlinks not only came with sleeves but also springs. I know you don't use both and I can only assume that the springs are for use when very mild off road driving will be done. I want to go ahead and make the switch but am still waiting for some parts. The Addco bar bushing brackets look much heavier than the ES 9.5165G bar bushing brackets.

 

Okay, I figured it out .... must have had a brain fart. The hole used for the L-bracket is the same one that the ball cup stud uses for the OE endlink.

 

This may be of interest to some of you. I was recalling 40 years ago when my passion was Corvettes and loose women --- loose women are still a passion. Anyway, I was working on getting my Corvette's suspension dialed in and one of the ways I was instructed to do it was by using "adjustable" endlinks. By adjusting the tension on the endlinks, I could control the amount of under or oversteer I wanted --- I loved oversteer in my Vette because I could just thrash that puppy around like a whip. Ah, where was I? Oh yeah, in order to have adjustable endlinks I substituted the sleeves on the endlinks for very stiff springs and depending upon how much I tightened down on the endlink bolt, compressing the span between the control arm and the sway bar, it would determine the steering characteristic I would realize. The Addco front bar comes with both springs and sleeves for exactly that purpose. I am pleased to know I have not forgotten everything from the 60's.

 

hmmm. I did not know that. What do these springs look like? Got a picture? I would like to play around with this on my Mustang.

 

Here you go

 

Very interesting indeed.Thank you.

 

You are welcome. Have fun but remember that the ideal everyday handling configuration is totally neutral handling. Cars that have lower centers of gravity respond better to oversteer than those with higher centers of gravity or fat butts ... like wagons. Understeer can also be very nerve racking and difficult to deal with. Take a look at your springs on the Stang and if you do not have progressive rate springs, you might want to think about that before you even consider upgrading shocks. JM2C

 

Yea. I dont think a 68 stang had progressive springs. I will take a look. LOL. And i sure dont think you can buy progressive springs for that car.. The car is as low as its gonna get. It handles pretty good except for the pesky understeer . I would rather lose the back end than the front. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

I had a 67 convertible and I think it had leaf springs. Did you know that back then they made fender well weights for them because they were so damn light in the rear.

 

Leafs in the rear yes. Coils up front. 67 is exactly the same as 68 except they introduced a 302 late 68. A few other small body changes. I didnt know they made rear fender weights but i can sure believe it. Driving that thing in the snow is impossible unless your into crashing into a brick walls like i did. And to think they have understeer. You would think oversteer if anything.

 

Okay, you guys have seen the broken front sway bar bushing bracketson my 4Runner. Well, one of them has completely broken and is relying on the remaining mounting point for support. I want to say that I am not a city mouse like James, nor am I a rock climbing mud runner like some of you banzai boys, but I do travel on a lot of dirt roads --- even though I do it gingerly.

It is time to revise James’s (jalaber) installation instructions. Take a look at the attachment that compares the Addco front 1.25 non-greaseable bushing/bracket to the greaseable one I just got from ES. I’d like the engineers here to follow me on my logic. The front end gets the most stress on a day-to-day basis. From the attached photo you might deduce that the Addco strap stock is thicker than the ES strap stock, but they are really the same thickness --- actually the ES is just a hair thicker, but we will call it 1/8” (3mm). The big difference is the way the bracket strap is engineered and the thickness of the Polyurethane bushing. The ES bracket strap has about 5/8” of flat strap surface and then the sides are flared out about 1/4”. The bushing protrudes from either side about 3/16”, the same as on the Addco bushing bracket. I think there is more cushioning on the ES bushing bracket and that translates to more shock cushioning and less stress. I also think the ES bushing bracket design allows for more chasis flex. But the big difference is that the strap is thicker than the ES one we are using This new bushing set is made for “trucks”. I checked the mounting pillow bolt hole span and from center to center it is 3”. I think that means that we might (?) have to elongate the slots on the ES bracket but I am not positive. The specs show that the bracket will mount on a 3” span.

The part number you need to order is Energy Suspension PN 9.5172 (1-1/4” / 31.5mm). Unfortunately, ES does not make a HD bushing set for the rear 1" bar so we will continue to use the 9.5161 greaseable set as specified in James’s write-up, or use Addco's bushing set. I also want to add that I am going to change out the OE Toyota end links, especially in the front where we had to use the thinner pancake bushings, and install the Addco adapter brackets and end links. I never liked the idea of those thin bushings anyway. Are there any comments?

 

looks to me like you might be able to double up on those brackets. The bracket for the smaller sway bar could possibly fit over the other with some persuasion.

 

Man, I am sorry but I just do not know what you are saying, and I guess I do not get the point.

The mounting bolt hole points for the rear bar are 2-1/2" center-to-center.