Poor oem sway bar end links!

[alia176]

These poor guys just couldn't take it anymore! After installing Nevin's cool sway bar, the driver side end link separated from the weld. So, i took them both out of the car and reinforced them with mild welding.

Now, they both broke as seen in the pics. The links are not bent and they seemed to have broken cleanly. I'd love to hear some guesses as to what happened.

One bad side effect to all this, besides not having the sway bar in the car anymore, is that the brake calipers were affected. One of the sway bar ends, now floating in space, made repeated contact with the passenger side caliper. The area of contact is where the brake hose connects to the caliper, there is a large banjo bolt there. This bolt came loose and I was losing fluid. Easy fix, just tightened it up a tad and all is good.

Another potentially bad side effect could've been torn up CV boots. The end links which were attached to the suspension were floating free and riding against the boots. Luckily, the boots weren't cut and all is well. As a matter of precaution, all items are now out of the vehicle.

To my naked eye, it seems to me that the links broke in sheer vs in tension. Again, they are not bent

Let me know if you need to see more pics.

My next step is to find the root cause of this and come up with a replacement set. My reason for not going with the beefy end links that Nevin was selling was that i don't like heims for various reasons. I don't know if the answer is to simply make up a beefy set of arms with ball joints because the failure point will be moved somewhere else, though I don't know where!

[Blacky]

Nevin is working on a solution to the noisy endlinks supplied with his swaybars. A solution is coming soon.

[Crazy_pilot]

The first break was simply because that tiny spot weld couldn't take the stress. The second break was because of the localized brittleness along the edge of the weld (called the Heat Affected Zone), which is actually much less tolerant to stress than the weld itself. To alleviate that you would have had to heat treat the links after welding them, which just wouldn't have worked.

[alia176]

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

The first break was simply because that tiny spot weld couldn't take the stress. The second break was because of the localized brittleness along the edge of the weld (called the Heat Affected Zone), which is actually much less tolerant to stress than the weld itself. To alleviate that you would have had to heat treat the links after welding them, which just wouldn't have worked.

I tried to heat treat them to the best of my abilities but as you saw, it didn't work. I don't have the right equipment or knowledge unfortunately. Thanks for the education though, very helpful.

I'd be curious to know the p/n for the Moog end link. I think someone on this board has used them to success. Here's one possibility: http://www.jegs.com/i/Moog/719/K9828/10002/-1

[ZMan]

Originally Posted by alia176

My reason for not going with the beefy end links that Nevin was selling was that i don't like heims for various reasons. I don't know if the answer is to simply make up a beefy set of arms with ball joints because the failure point will be moved somewhere else, though I don't know where!

Why don't you like the heim joints.

[alia176]

Originally Posted by ZMan

Why don't you like the heim joints.

I don't like them for a couple of reasons:

- i live on a dirt road and the Heims won't survive in this condition.
- Heims like to be maintained regularly; otherwise, they wear out and start clicking.
- this is not a race car. BJ's will outlast heims or Johny joints in a normal daily driver.

[alia176]

I haven't bought a new set of sway bar end links for Nevin's bar yet but did manage to find another used set for a '96 from another member of this board. Just like the oem set, I busted the end link on the driver side in the same exact location. I find that interesting!

Anyway, have we come up with an aftermarket end link that can withstand the forces of Nevin's sway bar?

[aust92pearl]

what are the size of the end links are there any aftermarket ones for other models of subaru or other manufacturer that would work ?
or could you make some in a CNC to fit ?
like these ? but made to fit svxii
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Subaru-Im...item2c56f0fa95

[icingdeath88]

We would need much longer ones than those.

How about using the heim end ones but greasing and covering the joints with a boot? I thought about this when I installed the bar the second time around, but mine seem fine, if a little noisy, so I never bothered to do anything.

It couldn't be that hard to get a rubber tube and slide it out of the way while you bolt it up, then slide it back over the joint, then zip tie or use hose clamps on the ends. The hard part would be finding a good place to attach it to on the knuckle part, the swaybar-endlink joint would be super easy. Just gotta get strong enough rubber tubing around the right diameter. Maybe pre-bent at 90*.

What do you all think? The grease would probably also cut down on the noise.

[alia176]

Originally Posted by aust92pearl

what are the size of the end links are there any aftermarket ones for other models of subaru or other manufacturer that would work ?
or could you make some in a CNC to fit ?
like these ? but made to fit svxii
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Subaru-Im...item2c56f0fa95

The front end links are 9" center to center distance and the ball joint studs are 10mm. I need to purchase a set for the front but don't feel like paying $50/each from subaruparts.com!

[LetItSnow]

Dunno if these would work: <MINI links for sale>