Sway bar end-links came loose!

[atalarico]

Hey all,

I thought I was doing a good thing by replacing the old torn up sway bar end links with some nicer Moog ones. Long story short, I was driving back down a mountain pass on a rougher dirt road (not 4x4, just rougher dirt road) and I heard a weird clanking noise coming from the front end. Low and behold, the nuts holding the sway bar links had come lose and my sway bar end tore a CV boot. To "boot", it was the side with the nice newer CVJ reman'd axle on it! Luckily it's not a huge tear in a bad spot, so I might just be able to clean it out, repack it with grease, and maybe dab some epoxy on the tiny hole to see if it holds up.

I pulled my damn sway bar off in frustration on the trail. My question is, since this also nearly happened to me on the same road in my 3rd gen after a sway bar bushing replacement, I must not be doing something right with my sway bar. That time it was the replacement bushing clamps for the bar itself that came loose.

I was just using a vice grip to hold the backing on the bolt so it doesn't spin while I tighten the nut. I wasn't using an allen key on the bolt itself. Just do the same, use some blue loctite, and torque it down harder? It's a bit difficult to fit my torque wrench in there with the wheel on still.

Thanks!

 

[slimjj]

Hey all,

I thought I was doing a good thing by replacing the old torn up sway bar end links with some nicer Moog ones. Long story short, I was driving back down a mountain pass on a rougher dirt road (not 4x4, just rougher dirt road) and I heard a weird clanking noise coming from the front end. Low and behold, the nuts holding the sway bar links had come lose and my sway bar end tore a CV boot. To "boot", it was the side with the nice newer CVJ reman'd axle on it! Luckily it's not a huge tear in a bad spot, so I might just be able to clean it out, repack it with grease, and maybe dab some epoxy on the tiny hole to see if it holds up.

I pulled my damn sway bar off in frustration on the trail. My question is, since this also nearly happened to me on the same road in my 3rd gen after a sway bar bushing replacement, I must not be doing something right with my sway bar. That time it was the replacement bushing clamps for the bar itself that came loose.

I was just using a vice grip to hold the backing on the bolt so it doesn't spin while I tighten the nut. I wasn't using an allen key on the bolt itself. Just do the same, use some blue loctite, and torque it down harder? It's a bit difficult to fit my torque wrench in there with the wheel on still.

Thanks!

Which end came lose? I'm assuming the end that connects to the spindle? I cranked the shit out of mine by accident (read the wrong torque requirement) and haven't backed it off, now I'm kind of glad I haven't. I think it's supposed to be 52 ft/lbs. Once you get it tightened down, you don't need to hold the other end or use the allen key as it will bite pretty good and you can just keep torquing.

Loctite wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Bumbo]

I know myself well enough to know that I would have pulled the wheel off just to get clearance for a torque wrench.

I’ve removed / replaced mine a few times… never had a problem torqueing back to factory spec. I would venture to guess that was the main reason it came loose.

 

[atalarico]

Which end came lose? I'm assuming the end that connects to the spindle? I cranked the shit out of mine by accident (read the wrong torque requirement) and haven't backed it off, now I'm kind of glad I haven't. I think it's supposed to be 52 ft/lbs. Once you get it tightened down, you don't need to hold the other end or use the allen key as it will bite pretty good and you can just keep torquing.

Loctite wouldn't hurt either.

I know myself well enough to know that I would have pulled the wheel off just to get clearance for a torque wrench.

I’ve removed / replaced mine a few times… never had a problem torqueing back to factory spec. I would venture to guess that was the main reason it came loose.

It was the end that connected to the sway bar itself, so the top. However, the bottom was loose as well on both end-links.

I guess it's loctite and torque time then. It doesn't drive terribly with the bar off but I'm not super comfortable with that option.

 

[blackoutt]

I too had this happen with a moog end link. I have mine on and off so much I never bothered with loctite or torque specs. Just 20v electric impact and like 2-3 good dugga duggas. I must have only got one dugga when it fell off and tore my boot to shreds (also of a very rough/rocky trail).

In all seriousness though, the torque spec is 70 nm (52 ft lbs) Yes you must hold the back side of the joint, some have wrench flats, others have the allen key way as you described.

 

[atalarico]

I too had this happen with a moog end link. I have mine on and off so much I never bothered with loctite or torque specs. Just 20v electric impact and like 2-3 good dugga duggas. I must have only got one dugga when it fell off and tore my boot to shreds (also of a very rough/rocky trail).

In all seriousness though, the torque spec is 70 nm (52 ft lbs) Yes you must hold the back side of the joint, some have wrench flats, others have the allen key way as you described.

What is the conversion of 1duggadugga to ft/lbs? hahaha

Thanks for the input! Considering the damage this stupid thing is capable of causing, I'm going for loctite next time too. $36 end-link < $200 reman'd CVJ cv axle.

 

[Elan750]

I had one come loose. Not moog though- it was a cheapy ebay one. Dont be judjin' their on 2 years and still holding up!

 

[blackoutt]

Yep. It sucks! I just rebooted with OEM boot kit and new diff and axle seals. Under $100.

Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk

 

[Keros]

If the sway bar/truck isn't sitting level, there can be some torque implied into the endlink bolt... which can really skew the torque value on the endlink. The endlink bolt will sit slightly angled into the bore, and the nut edge will jam on one side and not seat squarely. Then of course, it's easy to hit the torque value but the nut is loose once the sway bar moves slightly.

If there's a tiny bit of tension in the sway bar when installing the endlinks, this can be the result (depending on the type of endlinks).

Hope that helps.

 

[woodman60]

If there's a tiny bit of tension in the sway bar when installing the endlinks, this can be the result (depending on the type of endlinks).

Hope that helps.

Would using aircraft nuts solve any problem of end link disconnecting? I did my rears and the new end links came that way.