Krispy

Has anybody had a issue with the front swaybar rubbing on the Lower Control Arm? Moreso on the passenger side vs. the drivers. Also have a caster issue where the outside edge of the tire is rubbing on the bumper/inner fender liner when turned >50% off center. 305/18 Toyo RA1's on the front.

I've recently flipped the front inner LCA bushing to resolve the problem with the LCA walking to the point where it was touching the sub-frame cradle. Upper inner control arm bushings look to be at about the right spot and the rear inner LCA bushing also looked fine. Now that the lower front LCA bushing is flipped the LCA seems centered in the cradle.

Both issues were present prior to flipping the bushing and the car aligns to factory specs (camber/toe) without issue. Any thoughts other than there still being a issue with the LCA?

shifter77

OEM swaybar? If yes, Check clamps & rubber swaybar bushings. They do shrink with heat. You can also add washers to the bolts to keep the rubber bushing tighter.

Krispy

Yep, OEM bar.

-Everything is torqued to spec. What do heat shrunken bushings look like? Any tell tale signs?
-Wouldn't adding washers to the bolt's that are holding the clamps in place actually loosen the bar? Or are you talking about using washers at the endlinks?

CHJ In Virginia

The problem with your sway bar clearance is the left to right centering of the bar. Each lower control arm has a spot that is cast in the top edge to provide clearance. You need to center the bar and then retighten the bushing clamps. That should solve the problem. On my Hotchkiss bars, they a re larger than stock and the alignment was tricky. After I got it centered correctly - no clearance problem.

Krispy

Good thinking! That would make sense as why both sides are touching but one being worse than the other. I'll take some measurements tonight and see if I can get it aligned.

If that is the solution than I'm still at a loss on the tire rubbing problem, but I can live with solving one issue at a time.

gkmccready

You're certain the alignment is even and the cradle is centered?

drbenne

had this issue on driver's side with T1 bar. The sway bar will move somewhat right to left after driving a bit. I rotated the sway bar so it would have ample clearance and then adjusted the end links. Remember to adjust the end links with the suspension loaded (either jack stands under a arms or with car on ground) so you have no pretension on sway bar . When car suspension loaded ,you should be able to remove end links from a-arm or sway bar without any effort.

davidfarmer

this often happens because your car has "wedge" in it, and the non-adjustable bar is slightly bound up when centered. It is pulling itself to one side to find a "neutral" spot. Without an adjustable heim joint and/or scales, you will need to clamp it as suggest above. A neutral bar will usually stay centered.

froggy47

The adding washer thing is to loosen up a bound bar, you never want the bushings to "clamp down" tighter on the bar to keep it in place. You should be able to move the bar by hand when the end links are disconnected.

Krispy

Some good information, thanks!!

Unfortunately I can't use adjustable end links with my series rules. I was able to reset the bar so that it isn't touching either side although it's far from center and still much closer on one side. If wedge is there than this will be a re-occurring event without a real solution and I'll just need to keep relocating the bar?

Anybody have some upper & lower control arms they want to sell? Maybe I'll just try replacing everything.