Sway bar end links

[gramercyjam]

What is everybody using? I'd like some adjustables using rod ends but there just doesn't seem to be enough room on my car so I'm still using stock type with urethane bushings. It would be nice if there were some spherical bearings that could fit on/in the forged eyes on the sway bars.

[jmortensen]

How come there is not enough room? You can make it as short as a male and female rod end screwed together and held with a jam nut. Of course if you do it this way you have to disconnect them at the bar or the control arm to adjust, but that's not too horrible, just get someone else to adjust while you sit in the car up on blocks or ramps. You only need to adjust out preload once. The harder part is cutting the end of the bar off and welding a new end on with different holes for adjusting, and welding a piece of angle iron to the control arm, but I'm thinking you can handle that part in your sleep.

Jon

[gramercyjam]

Well if I were to cut the bar, and do something there like weld on a vertical plate on the top of the bar, with adjustment holes in the plate then a rod-end solution could fit. But to make a clevis that bolts up through the vertical hole in the bar, then a rod-end, there isn't enough room in my setup. Were talking maybe an inch and a half between the lower control arm and the bar. Maybe my car is a lot lower than most?

I'm also hesitant about cutting and welding the very thick forged bars I have. That's a pretty highly stressed part and cracks could develop pretty easily.

EDIT: I like the way my car is handling with the current bars and don't want to change something that would upset the current balance.

[2ManyZs]

Here's the rear one that is on my IT car. The front had a rod end that was bolted onto the end of the bar(end of the bar was threaded) and then was on an adjustable link to the control arm. The front one didn't mount to the stock location though, as it was past the rear edge of the control arm and because the bar probably should have been an inch or two shorter.

Before you ask, no, they aren't for sale and no, I don't know who (or what manufacturer) supplied the bars. I didn't build the car, and the PO is not with us anymore, so I can't ask him who he got the bars from. His crew chief might know, but, since it has been years since he and his buddy built the car, I wouldn't expect him to remember.

[gramercyjam]

I hadn't thought of putting the bar through the rod end.

[jmortensen]

The way I've seen it done is with a piece of 1" x 3" by 1/4" bar stock. The end of the bar is cut off and the bar stock is welded right to the cut end of the bar so that it is vertical. Terry Oxendale did his by welding a piece of angle iron right to the end of the cut, but that didn't leave any room for adjustment.

http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/detailfs?userid={7DC317B0-8EDB-4B2E-A837-F708D07C9769}&ndx=33&slideshow=0&AlbumId={17E71651-3EF8-4704-9954-22956DF10FCB}&GroupId={3B8751D4-D564-4405-8017-F14E1CDA9AF0}&screenheight=768

I've known of several bars modded the way I described, and no one has had a failure (yet). The end of the bar takes a pretty straight vertical load, it's the center section of the bar that does the twisting.