Prothane Front Sway Bar and End Link Bushing Review
- Thread starter mtbtim
- Start date
foo
Banned
Oooops. Thanks. You are correct that I'm way behind on the threads, so I apologize for asking what you've already found out.
Thanks for that clarification and for clarifying that they're all the same for all the 3rd-gen trucks (which fits with what the folks who sell the Daystar kit told me).
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soupkitchen
New member
mtbtim
Elite Member
Yes, you'll be fine with using the poorly fitting ones for now. The Energy Suspension Kit #9.8105(G)or(R) has the right size end link bushings for our rigs. The "G" is black color and the "R" is red color. It comes with 8 bushings and 8 washers so you'll have an extra set.
Here's a link: Energy Suspension 9.8105 - Sway Bar End Link Grommets and Washers - 98105. Energy Suspension ENE-9.8105G
$9 plus shipping.
DK327
Member
Thanks for this, much appreciated... After ordering my end links and front sway bar bushings from Toyota, I found out they did NOT come with end link bushings... Lame!
mtbtim
Elite Member
Thanks for this, much appreciated... After ordering my end links and front sway bar bushings from Toyota, I found out they did NOT come with end link bushings... Lame!
I actually have extra OEM or Poly bushings that I could hook you up with, but I wouldn't be able to send them out for a few days. I'm a firefighter and I won't be off shift until Saturday morning. If you're not in a huge rush, PM me with your address, and whether you want the OEM or Poly ones and I'll send them out to you on Saturday.
DK327
Member
Thanks for the offer, I'm not in a hurry and this would have probably worked but I already placed an order using mtbtim's link. It was only $10 so it's not a big deal... Since I'll also have an extra set after they arrive, I'll probably post it on the Classifieds Free section to help someone else out... Thanks again!
mtbtim
Elite Member
So, I got the bushings and washers in... The bushings fit pretty snug over new OEM end links but the washers will not fit past the top part for the nut... Any ideas?
That's interesting. The washers were a tight fit on my end links but they did slide over. How close is it to fitting over the post? Maybe you can put the washer in a vise and remover just enough on the inner diameter with a fine round file. Or, maybe you could drill it out to larger bore but I can see how that could be a little tricky.
If you don't want to bother with any of the above, maybe spend a little more money and just see if your neighborhood Toyota dealer has the OEM washers in stock. They couldn't cost that much.
DK327
Member
I think that will work, thanks for the suggestion.
mtbtim
Elite Member
Update: I used the industrial drill press and metal drill bits at a shop to bore out each washer just enough to make all 8 fit. Thanks again for the suggestion, much appreciated!
Nice. Cool you had access to that drill press. I was thinking it would have been tricky with a handheld drill.
mtbtim
Elite Member
I wish i had seen this post before I purchased the Prothene front kit. I ran into this endlink bushing issue also
If you PM me with your address, I'll send you some extra end link bushings I have. No charge.
mtbtim
Elite Member
If you bought the Prothane #18-1115 kit, the end link bushings won't fit well. The inside diameter of the ones in that kit are 15mm. The end link posts are 10mm wide which makes for a very sloppy fit. End link bushings from the Energy Suspension Kit #9.8105 fit correctly. That kit comes with 8 bushings and 8 washers.
TXLX1
New member
Thanks for he tip. I bought the 18-1115 kit, they look much bigger than 10mm. I also got a 18-1116 kit to get the sway bar bushings for rear and bought rear links for a 95. The 1116 bushings have much smaller diameter, about 9.25mm. I might be able to squeeze those on the front
foo
Banned
I wish i had seen this post before I purchased the Prothene front kit. I ran into this endlink bushing issue also
It seems that for years, everyone has run into the problem that the recommended ES kit had swaybar body bracket bushings that were too large for a proper fit and that the recommended Prothane kit had sloppy bushings for the endlinks.
It's too late for you, me, and mtbtim, but I cross referenced the last half dozen recent hits for a title-only search for swaybar bushings so that at least the NEXT person who needs to find which kit to buy and which kits to avoid will know the answer far easier than it took us to come to the conclusion.
We should probably add that kit to the summary recommendation in your other thread, so that people who just want endlink bushings (and not the swaybar body bracket bushings).
To keep the summary recommendation in one post, I'll do that below, and I will update the other thread accordingly (so everyone finds it easier than it was for us).
In my experience of asking questions of Daystar, Prothane, and Energy Suspensions technical support, a good fit (with proper preload) seems to be when the endlink bushings are about 0.5mm (0.020") smaller than the endlinks themselves.
The preload on the endlink bushings also comes from the height of the bushing, so, that's only my humble opinion based on somewhat conflicting stories that came out of Prothane (who, after all, has the sloppiest fit so naturally they'd change their story by saying the inside diameter doesn't matter after it was shown to them how sloppy their fitment is), so, given that (and arguments by some that 5mm of slop in a 10mm hole isn't a big deal), pease take my recommendation of 20 thousandths (1/2mm) preload with an engineer's grain of salt.
However, if you "want" 20 thousandths (1/2mm) of preload, then you'd want to aim for a 9.5mm inside diameter on the endlink bushings (which is pretty much what both Mtbtim (using ES bushings) and I (using Daystar bushings) measured for the snugly fitting bushings we put on our trucks).
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