Stabilize the suspension???

[Romer]

I replaced the swaybar suspension and it says after stabilizng the suspension, torque the nuts. I torgued with the axle still on jack stands. Should I have waited until I had the tires on and on the ground?

Thanks

 

[OGBeno]

I did mine while on the ground with tires on...both front and rear.

Good luck Ken.
-o-

 

[Romer]

so maybe I should loosen it up and allow it to adjust with the tires on and re-tighten.

What do you think?

Also, the brackets the coushins mount to are suppose to be taken off by the FSM instructions. I noticed some brown gooey stuff in the rubber that started leaking when I took it off and moved the bolt around. Is this a bad thing and should I replace these?

 

[turbocruiser]

I also always do mine with the vehicle on the ground and the tires pointed to the front. I have not heard that doing this any other way is wrong as such, its just the way that makes the most sense to me. I guess, if I had to guess, that I would loosen the bolts and retorque with the vehicle sitting as such. I also guess, emphasize guess, that it wont mattter much really either way. Lastly, if I had to guess, I'd guess that the brown goo you got there is actually dirty oil dripping off somehting other around that area and is just gettign trapped in there and revealed when removing the rubbers. A lot of guessing, I know. HTH.

 

[Romer]

I took it for a drive on the highway and above 40 I have a grinding noise now when I let off the gas. Strangly, there is also fresh exposed metal on the tcase flange just outside of the drive shaft flange. The drive shaft bolts are tight????

Guess tomorrow, I will loosen the bolts on the swaybar while it is sitting in my garage. My garage isn't perfectly level, I am guessing I need level ground.

Oh well, I rebuilt the starter today and at least that is working fine.

 

[Romer]

Also, I was curious if you took the drive shaft down to torque the bolts on the bracket. I just tightned it real well as I didn't do this.

 

[clarkrw3]

When I put new sways on my BMW they said to torque them down while it was on the ground....have you ever tried to get under a lowerd bimmer??? not going to happen...but no the cruiser that is how it should be done. the only way to do it on a car is to have a lift that lifts the tires...i digress

 

[cruiserdan]

If the jackstands were supporting the axles it would be the same as being on the ground. If they were on the frame I woud re-do it.

 

[97cruiser]

I just did the front bar recently and noticed the brown gooey stuff also. I assumed it was the factory lube. I it not?

Thnx, Vince

 

[Romer]

If the jackstands were supporting the axles it would be the same as being on the ground. If they were on the frame I woud re-do it.

They were on the axles. But need to readjust to solve my new vibration problem and the fresh metal I see at the Tcase flange.

Something is obviouly out of kilter!

I'll double check and make sure the coushins went on exactly were they were. I tried to do that, it just the only thing I can think off.

I am guessing that it could not really be anything with the front bushing as that position is dictated by the frame.

 

[Romer]

I let the suspension re-stabilized and re-torqued and it seems to be fine.

I forgot that this is a replacement Tcase and the bare metal might be from before or some of the drive-shaft swaps I did. I don't know if I looked that closely before.

All in all, I'd say this is done.

My little rattle also seems to be gone.

The old cushions seemed fine. The passenger side bushing was a little worn compared to the new one and the driver side bushing was really worn more on one sid than the other with a groove in the side of it.

A fairley cheap and easy maintenance item.