FRONT SWAY BAR END LINKS

[ayoslickxd]

Did you upgrade the front or rear end links??

rear sry

 

[RedWhite&PatriotBlue]

Any news on this? Mopar is having a nation wide shortage on the front sway bar end links. I was told early March, now it's pushed to mid-April. Dealer sent me home with one sway bar end link, and the other side disconnected, as they didn't want me driving a rental for +1 month.

 

[Y_eltar]

What's causing this? Mine just went out at 15k.

 

[Jeffjad]

If you don't mind spending a little cash suspension MAXX just released some aftermarket end links for 5th gens.

 

[RedWhite&PatriotBlue]

May need to go after market...new shipped estimate is into late June now.

 

[Jeffjad]

Just installed the end links from suspension MAXX yesterday. Pretty straight forward install. The front end seems more responsive. Will report back down the road.

 

[RedWhite&PatriotBlue]

Just installed the end links from suspension MAXX yesterday. Pretty straight forward install. The front end seems more responsive. Will report back down the road.

Please let us know! I may be getting these at the end of the month. Tired of leaning on every highway exit ramp!

 

[Y_eltar]

Just got mine back from the dealer they replaced the sway bar and end links. They had actually broken. Trading it in toda

 

[RedWhite&PatriotBlue]

Just got mine back from the dealer they replaced the sway bar and end links. They had actually broken. Trading it in toda

Did you trade it in because of the issue?

If I have one more major warranty issue with my truck, I'll be trading it in and getting a Toyota. I know that's blasphemy here, but I can't reasonably keep a truck for the next +5 years if things keep going wrong. Sway bar end links are not rocket science, and to have them failing within 25,000 miles is unacceptable.

 

[RedWhite&PatriotBlue]

Has anyone installed these yet? I just got mine in the mail, looking at putting the Suspension Maxx end links on this weekend.

 

[RedWhite&PatriotBlue]

UPDATE: Got my end links on, the truck drives so much better now that the front sway bar is connected. Haven't had end links for almost 3 months, so can't compare to stock, but the parts are robust and went on fairly easy.

#1 Tip is to get one side in, top bolt first, then bottom bolt, hand tighten nuts, then put on the other side. I re-torqued all nuts after 25 miles and had significant tightening on all pieces, just FYI. I will re-check after 100 miles to see if there loosen anymore.

 

[cervelo15]

UPDATE: Got my end links on, the truck drives so much better now that the front sway bar is connected. Haven't had end links for almost 3 months, so can't compare to stock, but the parts are robust and went on fairly easy.

#1 Tip is to get one side in, top bolt first, then bottom bolt, hand tighten nuts, then put on the other side. I re-torqued all nuts after 25 miles and had significant tightening on all pieces, just FYI. I will re-check after 100 miles to see if there loosen anymore.

I just put mine on today too and noticed a more firm front end. My plush ride is still there, this just plants the truck more. It’s awesome because I’ve made incremental changes over the last year and the ride just keeps getting better.

For those who installed the SuspensionMaxx links, did you notice that there wasn’t a terrible amount of threads showing past the nut where it attaches to the bar and lower control arm? The studs are almost flush with the tightening, and that’s with torquing down to 45 ft lbs.

 

[Jeffjad]

I just put mine on today too and noticed a more firm front end. My plush ride is still there, this just plants the truck more. It’s awesome because I’ve made incremental changes over the last year and the ride just keeps getting better.

For those who installed the SuspensionMaxx links, did you notice that there wasn’t a terrible amount of threads showing past the nut where it attaches to the bar and lower control arm? The studs are almost flush with the tightening, and that’s with torquing down to 45 ft lbs.

My lower stud doesn't show any threads either once torqued.

 

[RedWhite&PatriotBlue]

I just put mine on today too and noticed a more firm front end. My plush ride is still there, this just plants the truck more. It’s awesome because I’ve made incremental changes over the last year and the ride just keeps getting better.

For those who installed the SuspensionMaxx links, did you notice that there wasn’t a terrible amount of threads showing past the nut where it attaches to the bar and lower control arm? The studs are almost flush with the tightening, and that’s with torquing down to 45 ft lbs.

Threads were the same for me. I believe all x4 bolts were pretty darn flush with the back of the nut when torqued. I got x1-2 turns out of the wrench when re-torqued after the first 20ish miles. This made me worried as it seemed like a lot, so after another 100 more miles I re-torqued again and they had barely moved. I feel confident now that they're set in place and will be re-checked at the next oil change.

 

[cervelo15]

Threads were the same for me. I believe all x4 bolts were pretty darn flush with the back of the nut when torqued. I got x1-2 turns out of the wrench when re-torqued after the first 20ish miles. This made me worried as it seemed like a lot, so after another 100 more miles I re-torqued again and they had barely moved. I feel confident now that they're set in place and will be re-checked at the next oil change.

This makes me feel much better….I might crawl under this weekend and just retorque just to make sure they’re tight. But loving the ride with these on. Now to replace the rear.

 

[RedWhite&PatriotBlue]

This makes me feel much better….I might crawl under this weekend and just retorque just to make sure they’re tight. But loving the ride with these on. Now to replace the rear.

I kept he rear stock, when I put my Hellwig on. Mainly changed the front as I've been waiting for +6 weeks from the dealership and the last expected delivery of OEM sway bar links was end of June. They'll probably get bumped again just like the last x3 updates they gave me.

Plus, as I mentioned earlier, sway bar end links should not be failing in the first 25,000 miles. That is ridiculous, and the Suspension MAXX are beefy units and appears to be a simpler design. Fingers crossed, only time will tell...

 

[cervelo15]

So this was interesting, and I’m sure this was my fault. I climbed under the front of the truck this evening to check some stuff out and lo and behold, the top bolt for the d/s front end link was completely disconnected from the sway bar.

I have no clue when this could have exactly happened, but my suspicion was a rougher ride on the sand in North Carolina a few weeks back. The nut may have come off, the bolt may not have separated right away.

This was for a pair of SuspensionMaxx front end links. My guess is I just buy a 9/16” nut to fasten it back on? I’ll go with stainless steel because of the elements.

I did have them torqued down,but the top bolts to the sway bar don’t have a lot of thread to tighten down.

UPDATE 7/7: I called SuspensionMaxx this morning and before I could explain the entire story, Larry said he was going to send me a whole new link kit that has been updated. i guess the updated kit includes threadlocker for the upper bolt/nut, so they must have been getting reports of links separating. Its hard to find companies like this anymore, awesome service! So if you had issues with the nuts coming off, put some threadlocker on there.

 

[cervelo15]

So this was interesting, and I’m sure this was my fault. I climbed under the front of the truck this evening to check some stuff out and lo and behold, the top bolt for the d/s front end link was completely disconnected from the sway bar.

I have no clue when this could have exactly happened, but my suspicion was a rougher ride on the sand in North Carolina a few weeks back. The nut may have come off, the bolt may not have separated right away.

This was for a pair of SuspensionMaxx front end links. My guess is I just buy a 9/16” nut to fasten it back on? I’ll go with stainless steel because of the elements.

I did have them torqued down,but the top bolts to the sway bar don’t have a lot of thread to tighten down.

UPDATE 7/7: I called SuspensionMaxx this morning and before I could explain the entire story, Larry said he was going to send me a whole new link kit that has been updated. i guess the updated kit includes threadlocker for the upper bolt/nut, so they must have been getting reports of links separating. Its hard to find companies like this anymore, awesome service! So if you had issues with the nuts coming off, put some threadlocker on there.

Update to this: got my new top links today and threw them on. Went much smoother and put so much goddamn threadlocker on there, so we’ll see how it holds.

I torqued the link On the control arm to 60 ft lbs and tried my best to torque down the top link, but the tie rods made it almost impossible to get the torque wrench in there. But I used the ratchet and went gorilla on it.

 

[Jeffjad]

Did the new links have a longer stud

Update to this: got my new top links today and threw them on. Went much smoother and put so much goddamn threadlocker on there, so we’ll see how it holds.

I torqued the link On the control arm to 60 ft lbs and tried my best to torque down the top link, but the tie rods made it almost impossible to get the torque wrench in there. But I used the ratchet and went gorilla on it.

Did the new links appear to have a longer stud on top or did he literally send you a new kit just to include the thread locker?

 

[cervelo15]

Did the new links have a longer stud
Did the new links appear to have a longer stud on top or did he literally send you a new kit just to include the thread locker?

no, I thought the same thing, but I held the old And new up next to each other and they were exactly the same.

Heres the comparisons I noticed between my initial kit and the Replacement hardware:

- the instructions with the replacement were MUCH more complete. My first set of instructions was missing the bottom half of page 2 showing The right amount of bulge in the bushings (having said that, the instructions are not great. They don’t list the torque specs for the top link nuts)
- the replacement top links included the tapered AND lock washer. My first set only had the tapered washer
- the replacement links had a small dab of orange threadlocker on it. Not trusting that, I doused the stud with blue threadlocker (all I had laying around)

Im not poopooing the company since the links are awesome and make a huge improvement in the front end. I’m just annoyed that now I will have to constantly keep and eye on those links and retighten until I feel confident enough that they are there to stay.

I did notice I had a smidge more thread sticking out after tightening the nut down. Not much different than before, so I hoping the threadlocker is the key.