rear sway bar vs. diff cover | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

rear sway bar vs. diff cover

gumby

Well-Known Member
Joined
November 6, 2002
Messages
121
Reaction score
0
City, State
indy, IN
Year, Model & Trim Level
98 mountianeer 5.0AWD
i am runnin a larger than stock aluminum rear diff cover(IRS explorer). now that i have lowered the rear, the sway bar is VERY close to the lower drain plug on this cover.
so close in fact that when the truck is loaded, the bar will touch the cover over bumps. :thumbdwn:

are there any shorter sway bar links available to restore proper angle to the rear sway bar, and move it further from my cover?
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





i noticed this pic of the EE rear bar.


i see it is shaped slightly differently thru the center. does anyone know if the EE rear bar allows any extra clearence on the diff cover?

plannin on gettin one of these shortly anyhow.
 






beats me, I have the Addco,Adcco rear bar (however they spell it) and it used to hit the diff cover till I cut and shortened the rear endlinks(cut off wheel and MIG welder)
 






The end links from a Sport model are shorter.
 






I cut and shortened the rear endlinks(cut off wheel and MIG welder)
thats the plan if no other solution presents itself. probly use a TIG, since thats what i do ;)

The end links from a Sport model are shorter.
any idea how much shorter, or where on the link the difference is? the 3" MAC tailpipe is VERY close to the upper portion of the link. if the sport link is shorter at the top of the link the "s" bend would probly hit my tailpipe.
 






The Sport link would be just somewhat shorter, an inch or two. It wouldn't be located outside of the area where the 4dr. part was. It sounds like the tail pipe is located poorly, possibly twisted, in the muffler, towards the link.
 






thats funny, I have the 3" MAC exhaust also, but im using custom leafs and I had to whack the tail pipe around the endlinks (just one of many adjustements ;) lol ) , maybe 3/8" dimple
 






The Sport link would be just somewhat shorter, an inch or two. It wouldn't be located outside of the area where the 4dr. part was. It sounds like the tail pipe is located poorly, possibly twisted, in the muffler, towards the link.
if the tail pipe were twisted the tip would not sit properly or at the correct angle. the fact that it is 3" instead of 2.25" puts it quite a bit closer to everything under there; axle, heat shield, link, shock, leaf, frame, all of it. the "s" in the link is there to clear the factory tail pipe, now its jus closer to the pipe itself. 3/8" at the closest point.
i understand the sport link would be in the same area, jus not sure where FORD chose to shorten it.


reserved - im clear of the link, but my saggy leafs have made a very small dimple in the pipe where it crosses over. you can see where the coating has rubbed off, but jus barely feel the low spot with your hand. i was gonna try to do sumthin about it, but looks like the leaf has taken care of that for me :p:
 






does anyone know if the EE rear bar allows any extra clearance on the diff cover?
for anyone followin along, the answer is no. layin the stocker and the EE bar on the floor next to each other got me excited
e025f224.jpg


but alas, after installation, the combination of the differences between the bars made little to zero difference in the amount of clearance between the bar and my diff cover....

i will be shortening my endlinks tomorrow. :salute:
 






I'm eying an FMS rear cover from the 05+ Mustangs. Most should clear easily, the late Explorer IRS cover just has a lot of material extending from it. Is yours already trimmed, there was someone on eBay long ago grinding much of that outer material away. It made them more attractive, and easier to paint and install. Regards,
 






yes, mine is trimmed. the ears arent the issue however. the problem lies at the lower drain plug on the IRS cover.


01dedded.jpg

when the truck is on the ground i can barely fit one finger in the gap.

i would agree most covers probly arent gonna have any issues since the interference is so low on mine.
 






That is a huge plug, I didn't recall them being that large. It may be a pain to do, but if that is a NPT thread, you might find a tap and run it in and out quite a bit. That would make the plug go in deeper before being tight, and you could grind away a little of the edge around the plug hole. The problem with that is how large of a National Pipe Thread size that is. The tap itself would be too expensive to buy. You might see if a machine shop would have it, and pay them to do the work.
 






i did think about that option, but i dont pay anyone to do work for me if i can help it.

i have plenty of access to all the tools i need to shorten the endlinks. this option will kill three birds with one stone; fix the cover clearance problem, restore proper angle to the bar for the best leverage/functionality, and the only cost will be my labor(jus the way i like it).

;)
 






Very good, take some pictures also, I need inspiration to do mine.
 






crud. they are done, and i didnt have my camera with me, sorry.

i can tell you that there is 2" of free length at the bottom of the link that you can remove w/o penalty. worked like a charm
 






Very good, I'll see what the Sport links look like, I need to go to a salvage yard very soon.
 






I was going to stick my arm in and point at the parts but needed it to balance myself, sorry :(
DSC00187.jpg


... whats really funny is I was just going by what your profile said "98 mountianeer 5.0AWD", I should stop late night postings.:bdrunk:
 






yup yup. thats what mine look like now.
 






Back
Top