Not to long ago I changed out my sway bar bushings trying to get rid of my thump in the front end driver side. Well its still there and every so often I check under to see if anything is new and.. today there was!
Driver side sway bar link bent and broken and passenger side bent and on way to broken. Here are some pictures.
Passenger side \/

Driver side \/



What could cause the links to bend and break like this? I did a little offroading to go shooting on the 13th but nothing that would make me think I would have done this.

 

remove it! lol. umm... rusted thru maybe... but that break looks clean.. as in purposely cut...

 

No its a bend and break. I live in Las Vegas and I dont think its b/c of rust.

 

yeah your right about that.. upon closer inspection yeah i can tell its not rust. its got rust flakes, but yeah that shouldnt do anything, rust doesnt spread out here. did you do any jumping or anything with it?

 

pull it.... or build quick discos

 

did you have the truck in the air when you tightened everything down?

 

Ya I didnt realize you were from here.(Vegas) No, no jumping! Some light 2wd trail. ..... Now thinking of it, it could have been from my Mojave Road trip?!? IDN!
I will probably buy some from WabFab.

 

The front end yes.

 

Is there a write up on DIY disco's? I dont have $150 right now to buy WabFab.

 

when you get those discos, we should do a trail ride to test them out

 

That could have done it. Any suspension part should be torqued when at ride height. When on jacks the suspension will be at full droop. Then when you tighten up the swap bar and drop the vehicle the bar will be preloaded. so now when you took it off road and flexed the suspension it was too much for the tiny flimsy endlinks.

They make adjustable sway bar endlinks so you can dial in the preload in racing applications. But those are for cars and not trucks with huge amounts of suspension travel.

 

Never thought of that
That may be it!

 

When you replace it, would you be willing to send me the bottom nut of the end-link? I'll gladly pay for your time +shipping.

 

That get's me thinking. I'm pretty new to the 4x4 world but is the sway bar addressed in lifted applications. Because with a taller spring there will be preload. Using beveled washers to shim up the bar on the link and have zero preload might help the ride. And thats probably why guys break the links on the trail with lift. I'll have to go under and actually take a look around.

 

If I dont reuse it, its yours! Are you talking about the one connecting the bottom link to the A arm?

 

Exactly. I lost mine somewhere!

PM me when you're ready.

Fantastic!