Addco rear sway bar install question

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Silver_04

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:help:

Has anyone had a problem with the lengths of the bolts supplied with the Addco rear sway bar? The bolts I received in my kit are roughly 3/4" shorter than my factory bolts. Also, the supplied spacer that goes between the bushings on the Addco bar is shorter than the space between the bushings on the factory bolt.

Basically when I try to attach the nut to the bolt supplied with the Addco...there is ZERO thread length exposed for engagement.:censor:
 
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If I recall correctly, you reuse the OEM bushings and bolts to put on the rear bar. But you replace them when you put on the front bar.
 
Silver_04 said:
:help:

Has anyone had a problem with the lengths of the bolts supplied with the Addco rear sway bar? The bolts I received in my kit are roughly 3/4" shorter than my factory bolts. Also, the supplied spacer that goes between the bushings on the Addco bar is shorter than the space between the bushings on the factory bolt.

Basically when I try to attach the nut to the bolt supplied with the Addco...there is ZERO thread length exposed for engagement.:censor:
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I did my own install on the rear swaybar, you are correct about the length of the bolts on the new kit......the spacer is shorter due to the different angle of the new bar. IMHO

I had the same results when trying to attach the nut to the bolt supplied, it's because of the bushings. Initially, you have to compress it with your hands, and the nut will grab on to the threads of the bolt, it's not to difficult, I was on my back when I did mine......while still applying pressure (compress), start to tightening up the nut with a wrench until you get atleast 1/4" of thread showing, the spacer in between the bolt will be tight.

The instructions say tighten untill you can barely turn the spacer with your hands, but thats unrealistic with the bushings, (polyurethane).

Hope this helps.
 
BruteForce said:
If I recall correctly, you reuse the OEM bushings and bolts to put on the rear bar. But you replace them when you put on the front bar.
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That's incorrect.

All the parts come with the kit and you use them all, you only reuse the brackets that attached to the axel, all bushings are new, all bolts, and nuts, and spacers are new. Thanks
 
gonzo50 said:
I had the same results when trying to attach the nut to the bolt supplied, it's because of the bushings. Initially, you have to compress it with your hands, and the nut will grab on to the threads of the bolt, it's not to difficult, I was on my back when I did mine......while still applying pressure (compress), start to tightening up the nut with a wrench until you get atleast 1/4" of thread showing, the spacer in between the bolt will be tight.
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I must be a little girlie man because I can't get any thread length exposed at all :) I'm lucky just to get the end of the bolt even with the last washer. Just a question though, did you orient the bolt with the threads up or towards the ground?

Anyways, I went ahead and put the sway bar in with the factory bolts and bushings-dictated by time. I noticed that the e-brake cables were rubbing the new sway bar. If the shorter bolts and spacer are to be used, the sway bar is going to interfere even more with the e-brake cables on my car. I'm kinda inclined to find a slightly longer bolt and spacer given the problems I've encountered. Heck, I'll could get a couple of different spacers and have an adjustable sway bar then. :rock:
 
Silver_04 said:
I must be a little girlie man because I can't get any thread length exposed at all :) I'm lucky just to get the end of the bolt even with the last washer. Just a question though, did you orient the bolt with the threads up or towards the ground?

Anyways, I went ahead and put the sway bar in with the factory bolts and bushings-dictated by time. I noticed that the e-brake cables were rubbing the new sway bar. If the shorter bolts and spacer are to be used, the sway bar is going to interfere even more with the e-brake cables on my car. I'm kinda inclined to find a slightly longer bolt and spacer given the problems I've encountered. Heck, I'll could get a couple of different spacers and have an adjustable sway bar then. :rock:
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As per instructions, the bolt with the threads and nut are on the top side.......the e-brake cable just rest on mine slightly, it shouldn't be any problem because the swaybar doesn't move much up/down, sideways.

It's probably not advisable to use the old bolts because of the thinness of them and the beefiness of the new bar.

Try using a jack under the bar to compress the bar up so you can have some threads exposed, this should work. I can't think of anyone else having issues with there install, or they haven't posted any. :confused:
 
For some reason, on Mrs teamropes car, the first side I installed was cake, the second was a minor PITA. When I installed mine on my car, Boath sides were a MAJOR PITA! Pressing the bushings out of my old control arms and into the new Zack and Mac control arms was a lot more strait forward.

I finally ended up grinding the small lip off of the top bushings to get the thing to give me enough thread to start the nut. :banghead: I don't know if it was a good idea or not. Time will tell.
 
Hmmm. Putting mine on was a piece of cake. I had plenty of thread to work with. Are they shipping shorter bolts now or something? Or could it be that you've jacked the car up and let the axle hang down? I put mine on ramps so that the car's suspension was under load. Could that make a difference?
 
Fourth Horseman said:
Or could it be that you've jacked the car up and let the axle hang down? I put mine on ramps so that the car's suspension was under load. Could that make a difference?
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The instructions do say not to let the axle hang during installation. Like Fourth, I put mine on ramps and had no problems at all...
 
Fourth Horseman said:
Hmmm. Putting mine on was a piece of cake. I had plenty of thread to work with. Are they shipping shorter bolts now or something? Or could it be that you've jacked the car up and let the axle hang down? I put mine on ramps so that the car's suspension was under load. Could that make a difference?
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That explains it. Neither set that I had came with instructions. the Ramps would have been safer too. I'll just file this under lessons learned. :stooges:
 
I did mine with the car on ramps and experienced no problems. It was almost a year ago but I don't recall any part of the install making me particularly crazy.
 
Put on Ramps.....

Fourth Horseman said:
Hmmm. Putting mine on was a piece of cake. I had plenty of thread to work with. Are they shipping shorter bolts now or something? Or could it be that you've jacked the car up and let the axle hang down? I put mine on ramps so that the car's suspension was under load. Could that make a difference?
Click to expand...

RF Overlord said:
The instructions do say not to let the axle hang during installation. Like Fourth, I put mine on ramps and had no problems at all...
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valleyman said:
I did mine with the car on ramps and experienced no problems. It was almost a year ago but I don't recall any part of the install making me particularly crazy.
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I think that the common denominator here is, "I put mine on ramps", hopefully thats all that it is. :dunno: Mine came with instructions too.
 
I've been following the info from past posts on this site and the Addco instructions to the last detail. My car was on ramps for the duration of the attempted install and the instructions that came with my kit say nothing about the orientation of the bolt.

Looking at the Addco website they show a variety of bolt and sleeve lengths and I'm thinking they may have just grabbed the wrong ones for my kit. I've put in a e-comment to Addco regarding the bolt length and I'll be calling them tomorrow as well. It looks like all I need is just a bit more thread length and I'm good to go. But apparently no one has encountered this same problem and I'll check back when I get Addco's reply.

For now, the factory bolts are going to have to stay in until I get longer ones and I'm very curious as to the difference in mounting angle between the factory bar and Addco bar. The Addco info provided to me says the bar new is to mount in the same position as factory.

BTW, there should be clearance between the bar and the e-brake cables. Just with normal driving vibrations that sleeve on the e-brake cable will wear. I'm going to fashion up some kind of retaining clip for my cables.
 
Silver 04,
I have done 2 rear bar installs now -- on an '03 and on an '04. Both came from the factory with different end bolt link designs. However, in each case, I re-used the OEM end link bolts with the new Poly end link bushings. IMHO, you need the end link Poly bushings to get the real advantage to the bigger rear bar. Hope this helps. PM me if you need/want further assistance.
BTW, I did both of mine ON RAMPS as others have said.
GordonB
 
Here's the last word on this...Addco shipped me bolts that were too short.

So, if anyone else runs into this problem I would first recommend calling Addco just to let them know about your situation. They offered to ship new bolts but also recommended maybe picking up a couple of longer grade 5 bolts. I'll be making a trip to the hardware store tonight.
 
Silver_04 said:
Here's the last word on this...Addco shipped me bolts that were too short.

So, if anyone else runs into this problem I would first recommend calling Addco just to let them know about your situation. They offered to ship new bolts but also recommended maybe picking up a couple of longer grade 5 bolts. I'll be making a trip to the hardware store tonight.
Click to expand...

Good luck. I went looking for grade 5 or grade 8 bolts about that length for a different project a few months back and couldn't find anything at the local hardware stores.
 
Silver 04,
Make this easy -- reuse yur existing MM oem bolts with the ADCO poly end bushings. They work great together. Only need to swap out if BADLY corroded -- NOT in your case your car is too new!!!
GordonB :lol:
 
Silver_04 said:
Here's the last word on this...Addco shipped me bolts that were too short.

So, if anyone else runs into this problem I would first recommend calling Addco just to let them know about your situation. They offered to ship new bolts but also recommended maybe picking up a couple of longer grade 5 bolts. I'll be making a trip to the hardware store tonight.
Click to expand...
Chris...

Let me know via PM when we can talk via phone...I'll hook you up with the top level over at ADDCO and get you taken care of with whatever you need. No need to shop for bolts.:up:
 
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