Bent sway bar

[Randomrunner12]

Hey all,

Is it possible to bend a sway bar? MY truck is a 2wd, it never sees off road obviously. I will however slowly pop a curb now and again but what I have noticed as of late is that when i replace my sway bar frame bushings, the driver side is immediately smashed and the bar is back to resting against the frame.

I don't have a lift or level on the truck and am running stock height links and shocks. I cannot for the life of me think of what else would be causing this other than the bar itself is bent somehow?

Can you bend a sway bar back or should I look into removing the front and installing a rear sway bar along with the traction bars that I already have on it?

 

[lpennock]

You would probably break an end link before you could bend the sway bar beyond what it is engineered to flex.

I wouldn't remove the front bar. It reduces/prevents oversteer, body roll and is actually more important to handling than a rear. Adding a rear bar would reduce body roll but unless you are carrying a top heavy load like a truck camper you probably don't need it for that. A rear bar will reduce understeer and make the vehicle more neutral steering; however, if you get it too big you can actually cause oversteer which makes things fun in turns. Drifters like oversteer for a reason.

 

[Randomrunner12]

So any suggestion as to why the bar sits against the frame on the driver side but is normal on the passenger side? Is this something that just happens with our trucks?

 

[lpennock]

Try disconnecting the sway bar and measure ride heights on all 4 corners. I'm guessing you have a weak spring causing the bar to always be trying to fix the unbalance. Normally the bushing should have pretty equal load on them.

Also check the clamp to make sure it isn't sprung. The bushings shouldn't immediately go bad. So they maybe flowing out because of lack of camping force from the bracket.

 

[Randomrunner12]

The bushings aren't flowing out. just the one side decides to immediately go flat once installed and torqued. Once i remove the bracket the bushing goes back to normal size. I will disconnect the sway bar links and see if the ride height changes at all but right now all the corners measure as follows.

front is 35.5" from the ground to the center of the top center of the wheel well.
Rear is 40" measuring the same way.

 

[TConver]

Is it hard to get the sway bar on? If everything is perfect then the end links will go in when sitting level. If you have to force one of the end links then s ok nothing is not level.

 

[Randomrunner12]

They go in just fine. I'm going to go ahead and warranty replaced them and see what happens. One could be bent and I just can't see it?

I'll post back

 

[Randomrunner12]

Alright,

So pulled the bar and links off. Measured all 4 corners again in 3 different parking lots.

Both front measure either 35 or 35.5" depending on the lot. Rears are 38" or 38.5 inches.

Not sure what is going on but going to reinstall everything this weekend and pull my traction bars off. Wondering if maybe those are causing the issue but I doubt it.

 

[Badunit]

Seems to me something else is wrong. If it was bent, I think it would have to be extremely bent to put that much force on the bushing. And, even then, the problem would be that it was so bent you couldn't bolt one side down. My guess is it has something to do with the mount or how the bushing is fitting in it. You said you replaced the bushings so I am ruling them out for now.

Can you post a photo?