Sway bar bolts snapping

[re_guderian]

I drove with a snapped front ASB, and a Cruiser full of Scouts and camping gear. It was downright scary on twisty gravel roads.

 

[2000UZJ]

I drove with a snapped front ASB, and a Cruiser full of Scouts and camping gear. It was downright scary on twisty gravel roads.

Please explain, I'm about to run 3 days in the mountains. I removed front and rear...and ended up with a huge amount of travel, but I can see how it will be a little worse.

 

[re_guderian]

Please explain, I'm about to run 3 days in the mountains. I removed front and rear...and ended up with a huge amount of travel, but I can see how it will be a little worse.

About what you'd expect. I didn't discover the snapped end link until a week later, but I was going pretty fast into several corners and had to brake hard to reduce significant body roll. I remember thinking "that's weird I'm not loaded THAT heavy, am I?" Would it have rolled? Likely not, but it sure felt out-of-control. Look at it this way, people diss the OEM shocks because of excessive body roll, and go to Billstiens for the firmer, sportier ride. Disconnected ASB is the anti-Bilstien. It makes worn out OEM shocks feel like Billstiens. For reference, I am running old OEM t-bars, and new OEM shocks. I used to run OME t-bars and shocks...

 

[APKhaos]

FWIW after taking a long hard look at the geometry of the front end I'm pretty much convinced that lifting by anything more than an inch is going to cause the front bars to bind, especially wheeling where large wheel travel is expected. Ideally, dropping the ASB mounts about the same distance as you raise the truck would be s good guide. Someone posted a simple angle iron ASB mount that is welded onto the frame member. Its easy to see how that idea would work as a simple way to drop the ASB mounts.

 

[AimCOtaco]

FWIW after taking a long hard look at the geometry of the front end I'm pretty much convinced that lifting by anything more than an inch is going to cause the front bars to bind, especially wheeling where large wheel travel is expected. Ideally, dropping the ASB mounts about the same distance as you raise the truck would be s good guide. Someone posted a simple angle iron ASB mount that is welded onto the frame member. Its easy to see how that idea would work as a simple way to drop the ASB mounts.

What geometry specifically causes this the way you see it?

When "lifting" in 99% of cases we are just using the spring preload to change the neutral ride height. The suspension travel is unchanged so the full compression stop and full drop stops are unchanged. The suspension is still tracking the exact arc prescribed by the original designers.
Mine was broken when I bought it at stock ride height, with steps, and undersized crappy all season tires so it was not lift or off road use that had caused the failure. I think the design or manufacturing must be flawed from the factory for so many to break in stock configuration (on the front seemingly, the back is OK). I think for heavy lifted off road use we are just deflecting the suspension so much more that we see even more breakage. Basically my opinion is that I don't think there is a reliable fix yet as the root cause is still unknown.

 

[bluecruiser]

I have never snapped one of these and I have wheeled the 100 pretty hard....I also keep the bushings fresh, I change them when they start to look pretty smashed....I wonder what could be so different that some could snap consistently and some never have. My TB's are pretty cranked also....I do not have measurements though, but they have been the same way for about 4 years.

 

[AimCOtaco]

Could be as simple as a bad run of parts but it seems that some break the bar and some break the links so who knows.