Sway bar swap clunk?
 

I just replaced my Racing Beat front sway bar with the stocker and the install went great. No problems whatsoever. Also, since i was replacing the sway bar I decided to get new end links and bushings/brackets. Anyways, I noticed going down the road that there is a not loud but a noticeable clunk coming from the drivers side wheel well. I didn't have to go over bumps to hear the clunk it was just random.

I greased the bushings abundantly and torqued everything down to mazda's specs. I checked the sway bar and end links again when i got home and nothing seems out of place or loose. I'll have to get it on a jack tomorrow to get a better look but everything seems 100% correct.

Anyone have any idea what the problem is?

Did you go back to the stock sized bushing?? The RB bar is 32mm...and the stock bar a lot smaller........

i bet you installed it upside down...

I did use the stock bushings. I bought a new set actually.

hmmm....How can it be upside down? Its a straight bar without any curves. I would think that if you put it either way it would work fine. Or am I wrong?

End links could be in wrong. THIS PIC has the RB endlinks but the way its installed is the same.

You can install the links backwards fairly easily...but the bar is symetrical I think......

Did you tighten the A-arm bolts when the suspension was hanging??

it's been awhile since i looked at my sway bar. i thought there was a certain way the bar went on. expo1 is right about the links tho. the links could be on backwards.

The end links are fine. I guess that i preloaded the a arm bolts? Which ones need to be torqued down while the suspension is loaded?

All of them....if you loosen them off...they need to be torqued with the arms at normal suspension height

Damn it! :cwm27:

Should I put jack stands under the control arms to put weight on the suspension since there is no room to operate while the car is on the ground? Any suggestions?

How harmful is this to the suspension parts?

raise up the car with a jack. then place stands under the knuckle, control, whatever. slowly lower the jack until the suspension compresses. preloading...

Or put the car on stands....and use the jack to pre-load the suspension :D:

I have a buddy with an alignment shop......I do it there ....way easier

have you checked endlink bolts for tightness? my swaybar clunked a week after install, because the right endlink bolt wasn't tightened. it wasn't loose, but it was definitely not tight enough

you didn't have to touch A-arm bolts, did you? (to do the front bar?)

nothing will really feel "loose" btw, hit everything up w/ a wrench to make sure it's tight

Thank you. Is it ok to drive the car around like this for tonight? I have to go somewhere and can't take care of this tonight.

Should be OK if you take it easy......

should be ok...just don't do anything crazy.

Ok. I fixed the problem. I couldn't sleep with this issue unresolved. This wrong had to be righted.

Only took about a half hour but it worked. No more clunking. Now I can rest easy and sleep like a baby.

Thank you all for your help.

What did you do....now you have us wondering :D:

Exactly what you said. I re torqued all the nuts on the end links while the suspension was loaded and sitting on jack stands. No more clunks. :Peace:

nice...that'll be 1.0 diagnostic fee. going rate is $120/hour. thank you :D:

glad you fixed it, i hate little things like that...bothers the shit outta me.

hahaha. Nice try buddy. :cwm27:

Yeah, i seriously couldn't get to sleep last night because of that minute mistake. I got up at whatever time it was and fixed it. After that, I had no problems getting some sleep.

wow...you actually got outta bed to fix it? that's some freakin' dedication man!