I see that all the time... I am under these things every day and I bet 10% are bent... I have one customer that has an 03 and bent hers on her driveway in the first week! (Very Bad Driveway and need 4x4 because of it) Her husband told me to let him know when the break and they will get them fixed.... That was 4 years and 190K miles ago...

Oilguy

 

Mine look the same way.. Not quite as bad as yours but bent also...

When I raised mine with the 2" spacers it changes the angle of the sway bar on those end links (what ever you call them).. they bend like that if you top out your suspension (over a large bump) or if you jack up the truck from the frame, like putting it on a lift rack..

Your tire dealer is hardly at fault for this as the instructions I received with my spacers didn't mention anything about it..

If you look at the sway bar you will see that it is sitting at an angle now and not 90 degrees to those links.. Hence they bent to make that 90 degree to the sway bar..

I am going to weld up a couple of 2" spacers for mine..

Gerry

 

So my tire dealer had the exact same kit and same instructions you did? Guess what, they didn't even use any instructions when they did the install!

I would say it's 100% their fault because they install these kits for a living and should know better. I have a feeling they learned their lesson this time after buying a new set from DC and losing money on the job.

 

jrussell>> i got an 07 brochure yesterday, and saw the power wagons have a "electronic dissconnect" sway bar. looks like a cool mod if you like twisting it up with your truck. i'll try and scan a pic later.

 

I'm sure it would fit and that would be a really cool mod. I would hate to see the total cost of parts from DC though!

 

Is this also needed (blocks or ends) for 2WD or just 4WD? I have a 2 1/2" front level kit on my 2WD.

 

Jack up the front end of the truck such that the front suspension is at full droop (i.e., full extension). Look at the angle between the ends of the sway bar and the links. You'll see pretty quick how much bending force is being put on the links.

Rusty

 

Nothing should bend within the factory travel length.I had 2" spacers on my CTD for 3 yrs 70000 miles,and nothing bent. You need to be careful adding 2" spacers,because unless you extend the factory bump stops by 2" also you are operating the bar at angles ,and positions outside of what DC built it for.If you were to bottom the suspension with the spacers ,you could have a problem then.Raising the ride height with the spacers,is the same as towing very heavy,the front end sits 2" higher.Unless you have added longer shocks that top out at a longer lenth,nothing should bend.If you do add longer shocks,you need to address the links,and a few other things.

 

I have preached the need for extended links or drop blocks for a while now. I prefer the extended links because not only are they longer but they are much stronger than stock links. Bending links with level kits is a problem with most trucks, not just ours. On my last truck, a 2004 Nissan Titan, not only would the links bend but if you didn't catch it the sway bar would actually rotate down so far it would dig into your wheels. It sucks having to replace 2 wheels when you could have spent $100 on links!

 

Even with longer links they will still bend if you use up all you travel. The biggest problem is that the link mounting points on the bar is fix and since the bar rotates the bar mounting points do not stay perpendicular to the end links.
I built up a custom torsion bar setup and it is amazing how much the stock swaybar binds up the suspension.

 

talked to Sean at Lorenz Ind. and the blocks are $65 +ship and the adjustable end links are $165 + ship and it looks like you have to do a little hole reaming at the axle mount according to the pic for the end links, KORE wants $110 +ship for the blocks.

I'm ordering a set of blocks from Lorenz next week to install at the same time as the leveling pucks from Tuff Country.

 

FWIW, LS used Tuff Country spacers on mine and it turned out great. It lifted the front 1.75" and that's perfect for me as I didn't really want a full 2" lift.

 

I'm still looking for an explanation as to why the lowering blocks are needed for a swaybar. Even if the links are bent, I don't see how this would affect the swaybar from doing it's job.

I agree that the front axle articulation would be slightly hampered by not lowering the swaybar, but since that's not a concern for many people's tow rigs, why spend the $$??

Once again, I'll be the first to say that I'm no expert and I'm working off my own assumptions here, so I'm hoping somebody can educate me.

 

It's all about angles, torsion and geometries. For the average person just driving down the street and towing are you going to see much difference bent versus not bent, probably not a lot. The sway bar helps control pitch and roll especially when cornering. That said, with bent end links you may see a little more roll side to side as in cornering as the sway bar is not able to torque and twist and apply the right pressures as it should with straight end links.

By putting the spacers or new extended end links you allow the sway bar to keep it's factory geometries to provide the best correction for pitch and roll. Try taking them off and drive the truck around doing some hard cornering to show the biggest effect of not having the sway bar.

I do know that when I put some Energy Suspension polyutherane's on my sway bar U-brackets and end links it totally took take of the pitch and roll effect when going up hard angles, driveways and cornering. I could get the tires to squeel doing a hard corner with little roll for an SUV.

 

I know poly bushings make a noticeable difference, I was just trying to figure if a bent link would make a difference, and I suppose it would. For my purposes (and for most I suspect), I don't think it is a noticeable difference, and surely not worth $90 for a new link (at least not to me).

Interesting stuff.............