[TG]

For those who have been following another thread of mine I had a metal rattling noise coming from the rear I could not identify.
Today I did! It came from my Elevate rear sway-bar I installed few months ago.
I could not see it when inspecting the sway bar but I realized that the end-link threaded rod is much smaller in diameter than the Elevate sway-bar. This was causing the end link to shift when the nut would loosen just a bit.

I thought I'd share the fix I did for all those who have this Elevate setup:

Keep in mind I have vertical end-links (horizontal holes on the sway-bar)

I fixed it by machining an aluminum sleeve to fit between the end-link threaded rod and the sway bar hole.

I'll have to double check the dimension tomorrow to give you what I used but I was able to find a standard aluminum tube that just fit the sway-bar hole to which I machined the inside with a simple drill bit. I used a lay I have at my work shop but it can be done with a simple drill I believe.

Here is what I did:

- You can see the huge gap -

- Fits right over -

- pushed in -

NOW I CAN ACTUALLY FEEL THE STIFFNESS OF THE SWAY-BAR . . . LOL

Sorry for the crappy shots. I borrowed a camera that could not focus on the right thing

 

[Fitzy]

Very nice work!

I actually ended up making my own endlinks for the elevate sways with 12mm ends to fit in there.

 

[stealth]

Why wasn't it designed properly in the first place?

 

[EngTech]

Would You Machine Me Two Bronze One's - Please , but Me Bar has Been Fine hasn't moved - Checked for Movement .

 

[TG]

stealth: I don't know!!! but agree!!!
I guess it's possible there are different end-links size out there.

 

[TG]

Would You Machine Me Two Bronze One's - Please , but Me Bar has Been Fine hasn't moved - Checked for Movement .

Really, it's not that hard . . . I know you can do it yourself ;D

 

[EngTech]

Mazda & and Another Model have some Perfect After market OEM - replacement Links

 

[TG]

They fit our cars?

 

[EngTech]

JUST LIKE - Our Cars - Custom Pcs. they are Pricey , but nice .

 

[JN2k108]

yeah i had this problem too when one of my blue ipd endlinks fell out because ipd forgot to send me washers when i asked for them.

 

[dfrank08]

strange. I've had the elevate rsb for over a year now with no problems. the connection looks fairly flush on both sides with vertical tabs but who knows, i have a 09.

 

[Slasher]

TG what diameter pipe did you use? Mine hasn't budged (that I'm aware of) and would like to do this as a precaution.

 

[TG]

Dam I wanted to list it.
Sorry I got swamped this week . . . if it can wait Monday I'll let you know then.
I got the material at my job's shop and I was not planning on going to the office this weekend. . .

 

[Slasher]

Dam I wanted to list it.
Sorry I got swamped this week . . . if it can wait Monday I'll let you know then.
I got the material at my job's shop and I was not planning on going to the office this weekend. . .

Next week would be great! Thanks tg!

 

[TG]

hey Slasher, here it is.

I used an aluminum tube that was .5" (12.7mm) in OD
The OD fit perfectly. The nice thing about the aluminum is that it'll deform to what ever imperfection on the sway bar.

The ID was .375" (9.5mm) and I re-drilled it at 0.385" (9.8mm) which fit just over the threaded End-link.
That all said, I would double check your setup.

 

[Slasher]

thanks TG!!!!

 

[VictorVDC]

Why wasn't it designed properly in the first place?

It was designed correctly mine is 3 years old and the hole size is 10.15mm just right for the 10mm bolt. No spacer necesssary

I think "Elevate" has got a quality control problem. My "Evolve" bar is fine. They should be replacing the bar or supplying spacers to fix them.

 

[Slasher]

hey Slasher, here it is.

I used an aluminum tube that was .5" (12.7mm) in OD
The OD fit perfectly. The nice thing about the aluminum is that it'll deform to what ever imperfection on the sway bar.

The ID was .375" (9.5mm) and I re-drilled it at 0.385" (9.8mm) which fit just over the threaded End-link.
That all said, I would double check you setup.

would a .402 ID be too big? my other option is .370 ID....

 

[TG]

I think .402 will be fine. That's not even a 0.5mm difference and I was almost too clothe to the bolt diameter.

 

[ah_long]

hey guys, I found a place that sells the spacers for cheap and ordered a few. It works perfectly for this application.

www.aluminumspacers.com

OD 1/2"
ID 0.379
Length 3/8"
Spacer #: AS50-18-24

and it's only $0.85ea

hope it helps