manimal
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- June 27, 2006
- Messages
- 140
- Reaction score
- 12
- City, State
- Gig Harbor WA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 96 XLT
My dad and I both have Explorers (96 & 00) that have been lifted about 2.5" through TT and shackle/AAL.
Last year we took my 96 hunting and ended up on some FS roads that were just awful. Total moonscape of rocks & washboard. I was trying not to beat the **** out of the truck, but by the end of that trip I could hear my sway bar end links knocking pretty bad. I torqued the link bolts a bit but the bushings are already practically crushed as-is.
On mine I have the Moog problem solver links, but I've never really been happy with them. The bushings don't seem to really settle in to the bar and make decent contact, no matter if the nuts are torqued to spec or overtorqued. It seems like the top bushing crushes easily and the bottom bushing never really compresses as it should, and it seems like it has to do with the drop angle that the sway bar has with the higher ride height of the TT. The sway bar ends don't sit completely parallel to the bushing surfaces when the truck is at rest.
Yes the bushings are installed correctly along with the proper orientation of the washers.
I'm getting ready to rebuild the front end on my dad's Explorer before hunting season - putting on new wheel bearings, complete upper control arms, new lower ball joints, new TRE's, and new sway bar bushings & links.
I'd like to figure out if there is a trick to getting the end links to have a more correct bushing contact, because these damn sway bar links seem to be the source of the majority of noise & clunking that is heard and felt in the front suspension of these trucks once they're lifted.
Is there a longer end link that's available? Is there a magic trick to setting up the bushings in a way that's different than stock?
Last year we took my 96 hunting and ended up on some FS roads that were just awful. Total moonscape of rocks & washboard. I was trying not to beat the **** out of the truck, but by the end of that trip I could hear my sway bar end links knocking pretty bad. I torqued the link bolts a bit but the bushings are already practically crushed as-is.
On mine I have the Moog problem solver links, but I've never really been happy with them. The bushings don't seem to really settle in to the bar and make decent contact, no matter if the nuts are torqued to spec or overtorqued. It seems like the top bushing crushes easily and the bottom bushing never really compresses as it should, and it seems like it has to do with the drop angle that the sway bar has with the higher ride height of the TT. The sway bar ends don't sit completely parallel to the bushing surfaces when the truck is at rest.
Yes the bushings are installed correctly along with the proper orientation of the washers.
I'm getting ready to rebuild the front end on my dad's Explorer before hunting season - putting on new wheel bearings, complete upper control arms, new lower ball joints, new TRE's, and new sway bar bushings & links.
I'd like to figure out if there is a trick to getting the end links to have a more correct bushing contact, because these damn sway bar links seem to be the source of the majority of noise & clunking that is heard and felt in the front suspension of these trucks once they're lifted.
Is there a longer end link that's available? Is there a magic trick to setting up the bushings in a way that's different than stock?
