DIY ADJUSTABLE sway bar links

Рет қаралды 19,863

5 жыл бұрын

Need sway bar links? Why not make your own? It's easy and cheap!
I decided to do this because I couldn't find replacement sway bar links readily available for my 1987 Toyota MR2. I had two options. One was to buy aftermarket adjustable sway bar links which are honestly overkill and waste of money for a car that will be driven mostly on the street. The other option was to get them from the dealership. Weirdly enough Toyota still stocks these but I was quoted an obscene price of 450 EUR (480$) for two pairs of sway bar links.
So I decided to make my own.
Making them is super simple and here are the steps.
Step 1: Find the length of sway bar links you need. Look it up online, measure your existing ones if you have them or lift your car up and measure the distance between your sway bar and strut or wherever else they are mounted on your car.
Step 2: Buy sway bar links. You can buy the cheapest links you can find, but they have to be longer than you need and the studs have to fit through your sway bar hole and your strut mounting hole.
Step 3: Get an angle grinder and cut down to size. Measure twice cut once.
Step 4: Thread the rod ends using a threading die. This is the trickiest part of this diy project as human hands aren't accurate and if you're not careful you can end with a uneven thread. I suggest putting the threading die in a table vise which will give you more control and better results.
Step 5: Assemble the sway bar link using two nylock safety nuts and one extended nut
Step 6: Install the sway bar links
Step 7: You can adjust sway bar preload by making the links longer or shorter
And that's pretty much all there is to it. A simple solution for having sway bar links on cars where replacements are hard or impossible to find.
Before you say that this is a horrible, cheap, ghetto fix I would like to say that the forces sway bar links are exposed to are never going to be enough for this to be any sort of a safety issue or concern. I have seen amateur drift cars with these installed and they are sitting there for ages without any issues at all. That being said, these are great for street driven cars but I don't see them as a permanent solution for heavy duty applications like track, drift, autocross and so on. For heavy duty stuff it's best to invest into heavy duty equipment.
www.driving4answers.com/shop/
#d4a #swaybar #swaybarlinks #diy #howto #suspension #4age #4age16v #aw11 #ae86 #4agebigport #mr2mk1 #mr2 #toyota #jdm #celica #corolla #starlet #ke70 #fx16

Пікірлер: 58

@sohailmahboob3760 3 жыл бұрын

Great Job, now that's how tutorials should be made, to the point, clear and easy to understand.

@ichankomo8767 2 жыл бұрын

The DIYishness of this is the reason why i subscribed

@1one3_Racing 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Gru! Didn't really need the tutorial. Once I saw what you had made I worked it out. But it did give me some great ideas for other custom links I could fab up!

@d4a 5 жыл бұрын

Gru? Wait... You called me that once before?

@1one3_Racing 5 жыл бұрын

Maybe. My kids love those movies.

@bradtanner3870 4 жыл бұрын

Loved your DIY Adjustable sway bar link video.!!! Thanks.

@neiljborja 5 жыл бұрын

This isn't particularly ghetto, don't worry, this turnbuckle concept/execution is pretty much exactly what's used in a lot of racecars. Thanks for sharing.

@yurishnirman3847 5 жыл бұрын

Looks like one for my Audi 90 1995 :) cool job

@linchester8464 5 жыл бұрын

you need to share this to 802 Garage since you both have the same car. he still preparing to swap the SR20DE into the car great idea for the sway bars. hey if it works then it not stupid if it breaks, just buy THICC sway bars and remake them

@inndeep7020 3 жыл бұрын

Nice work. Thanks.If you use rapid tap, you'll have nicer threads and an easier time cutting the threads.

@johnveroutsos 3 жыл бұрын

Brilliant! Great video!! I have an old Volvo and like you, I can't find the rear sway bar links without having to add a second mortgage to my house in order to buy them. Thanks!!

@andrewmurray6772 5 жыл бұрын

hey mate, welcome back, and, Congratulations on 40K subscribers too ! Cheers from Australia :)

@d4a 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks man! Long time no see :)

@andrewmurray6772 5 жыл бұрын

@@d4a am starting the re-paint job on my 99' Corolla, it's the Conquest model with the 7A-FE engine. would really like ITB's on it too one day :)

@soalersystem123 3 жыл бұрын

awesome video

@wairarapagates4857 9 ай бұрын

Angle cutter,, used as a grinder, great work. and a little oil on the die, any oil, even cooking oil,, you put the nuts on the link the wrong way around, nylon on the outside,, but great idea, love it, and I'm doing this, just a little different,, your video's are my bench mark.

@DeftAnesthetik 5 жыл бұрын

DIY is supposed to be "ghetto" but doesnt have to look that way. The OE links on AW's are toothpicks anyways. Every one I've owned has had the "heavy duty" ones and needed them replaced because one of the previous owners put lowering spring but no bump spacer causing too much stress. I've found OE links as cheap as $15 but they are getting few and far between these days. This is a good solution to a growing concern.

@atxjax1 2 жыл бұрын

I have a truck that is lowered. In the rear the passenger side is 1/4 inch lower than the driver's side. If I add a sway bar, with adjustable links like what you've done here, Could that assist in making the drop level on both sides?

@jhuntosgarage 5 жыл бұрын

Not ghetto at all. The sway bar is just a crutch for the actual springs anyway. Great work my man! Stay warm over there.

@sohailmahboob3760 3 жыл бұрын

One question how the length of sway bar links effects the drive, kindly through some light

@tonynguyen7486 5 жыл бұрын

That is the same design as the whitelines links on my g35.

@rommelekstrom1973 Жыл бұрын

Do you have a video that rebuild an old stabilizer

@mangomcpoo475 3 жыл бұрын

doesn't the sway bar need to be horizontal at ride height?

@BH-cg8ds Ай бұрын

Where did you get the cool locking pliers

@fiveknot5091 5 жыл бұрын

We are building a prototype car and found an old sway bar link from junk dealer, but it is not flexible (i mean its end points are stuck and not turning in any direction), which oil should we use for making it flexible again or is there any other tactics? Thanks for video by the way, it was very useful.

@d4a 5 жыл бұрын

Maybe try soaking it in wd-40 or try some heavy duty penetrating oil, they are usually stronger than wd-40. But I would honestly try with a different link that one is likely toast.

@stephentanner1596 3 жыл бұрын

Check the end links from a 2009 camry up front.. look the same

@SuzanneKowalski 5 жыл бұрын

There's actually nothing wrong at all with this solution. The only thing I could see as a problem is using an angle grinder to reduce the thickness of the rod, but if you cut the thread a bit over the grinded length (to remove all the little scratch marks of the grinder disc - these act as stress concentration points), then there's really nothing to worry about.

@chrisbyers4726 2 жыл бұрын

I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable recommending it to others too. But I did it to the lower mounting shaft of my front shocks on my ranger. I had flipped the rear axle and after dropping the front I wanted to find the best length shocks. My caliper was not calibrated so I thought it was 14mm. Grabbed the coupling nuts already and the largest die I had was 12x1.75. Took a flapper wheel to that bitch in the sloppiest manner possible. Worked great, granted its torsion front end so the shocks don’t take the load like a strut.

@tedcleveland8488 4 жыл бұрын

Hello just a question, My car was pulled to right side, I saw my mechanic adjusted the link and it was fine after that (of cuz he did charged me) is stabilizer links adjustable??

@d4a 4 жыл бұрын

Stock ones almost never are

@erolfox 3 жыл бұрын

Nyloc is a "one-way" nut. The nylon side must be AWAY from the surface you are tightening against. Just like the way you put them on the nut through sway bar. You're putting pressure from the turnbuckle on the nylon and can cause it to fail.

@Videoswithsoarin 2 жыл бұрын

its not one way they nylon adds friction so the nut doesnt loosen

@erolfox 2 жыл бұрын

@@Videoswithsoarin We're looking @6:17. Just logically, the surfaces contacting each other should have the greatest contact area because we're putting torque pressure there. Then consider, if you're crushing the nylon rounded end, which is thin metal folded over to retain the nylon... you're going to crush that metal easily under pressure, a small gap will eventually arise between the surfaces, very bad. In short, Google is our friend. Prove to us that an engineer says to crush the nylon end.

@toyotakp-36channel72 5 жыл бұрын

Nice!

@toyotakp-36channel72 5 жыл бұрын

The Question is... :Can I do this on my steering bars lets say for more camber?

@d4a 5 жыл бұрын

I personally wouldn't do it on anything steering related. The chances of it failing are slim, but steering is critical for safety and any sort of chances are too high. If these links fail on the sway bars nothing other than your car leaning more in a corner will happen. I hate to imagine what could happen if they failed on the steering.

@toyotakp-36channel72 5 жыл бұрын

@@d4a Yeah,depends on the steering system too,but I wouldn't do that either,possibly I could try it to see what is like

@pgtmr2713 5 жыл бұрын

Stock replacement links are cheap and fall apart for most cars anyway.

@adamsetiawan5526 2 жыл бұрын

some end links have balljointed end links on each end, what happened if it were made fixed with a poly bushings?

@semsenhulaboyjonathan8895 5 жыл бұрын

@nanab256 2 жыл бұрын

Why not just welding this?

@billyjones9045 2 жыл бұрын

that's what I was just debating

@sventle 5 жыл бұрын

you have a swaybar on the rear? :thinkingemoji:

@d4a 5 жыл бұрын

I do. I think it's stock on all mk1b (aw11 facelift made from 87 onwards)

@sventle 5 жыл бұрын

I thought for sure I had the mk1b since the transmission and head are in that category but I don't have this sway bar, another mystery into the cars shady past @@d4a

@d4a 5 жыл бұрын

What does your arm rest look like? The big long thing where the shifter is. Maybe someone swapped in the engine and transmission.

@sventle 5 жыл бұрын

parking brake is on the right side and yeah, I took it apart and put it together like you did and found lots of weird stuff so who knows, block is even from some 90's corolla haha@@d4a

@stephenbello1081 5 жыл бұрын

It is market dependent. 1B rear sway bars were deleted in the USA market but were continued in most other markets. That's why the mounts are still there. The 1A/1B was a staggered runout of available parts, not a hard changeover date. Many have been caught out when their car externally looks like a 1B but was factory fitted with some early level parts. If yours is in the change over period, it is wise to measure items like struts and front discs before ordering new ones.

@tyldall 5 жыл бұрын

I love the mod its cool but ! The elephant in the room is ! Does anyone really know how to adjust them to suit your car ! Really folks ! People are all talk ! The stiffer sway bar is the only one that i noticed made a real difference ! I am all ears if someone can explain adjusting a stock sway bar

@d4a 5 жыл бұрын

You make them longer to increase sway bar preload. More sway bar preload should result in a stiffer bar and less leaning in corners. But it takes some experimenting to figure out the best setup. Of course a thicker sway bar is always going to be more noticeable.

@tyldall 5 жыл бұрын

@@d4a If you adjust them to make them both equally longer this as I understand it makes no difference As I understand it in my minds eye! it's either one longer and one shorter to suit a mostly right hand race track or the other way around How exactly would preload be consistently affected? It appear to just to move the ends of the sway bar lower or higher if moved in equilibrium ?

@d4a 5 жыл бұрын

You are changing the angle. The angle determines the preload. If you look at aftermarket sway bars you will see that at their ends they have 2-3 holes instead of one. They are there to change the angle between the sway bar and the strut mounting point which changes the preload. But as I said it's best to first experiment with different settings and see what works best.

@myshots101 5 жыл бұрын

Noooooooooo! You didn't use primer first! Always use primer before any painting or it's just a matter of time before that rust comes through. Lol

@801russc 2 жыл бұрын

My only complaint on this video is, where the heck is your grinders shield? I really enjoy your channel but you can't preach safety, if you are not gonna do the same especially in your videos you never know what people will see and think it's OK if you are doing the same. I get that it's hard to use with it on but you know what, I really like your channel, I'd hate to SEE something happen to you if that thing broke. I've seen people come in with a part of that blade/wheel in their eye, even with safety glasses on, I've also seen lives taken to soon because that shield was not on. Ok ok let me have it but if you do it better be a sound argument!