motoboat

iTrader: (1)

Has anyone had this problem? The left rear link stabilizer bracket is broken. I noticed it today when I was doing the brakes. I just had the car at the dealership this week and they didn't notice this, I brought it in for a suspension check and tire balancing.
Glad they gave it a really good look

The reason I took it in is that I have a vibration at highway speeds that I cant figure out. Anyway that this could be part of the problem?

I do have the progress RSB, installed about a year ago. No problems with that or the bushings. I did that install myself and everything went well. No problems with the endlinks or hardware then. I had a local shop install the coilovers and later on I noticed that they didn't reattach the endlinks all the way and I has getting a clunking sound. So, I took it in to another place to have the endlinks removed as they were seized. I wonder if that shop that replaced the endlinks did this removing the old one? Or maybe damaged it and now it has totally failed.

I'm going to order the part and give it a shot changing it out myself. If anyone has any tips or has done this before please chime in.

Will Y.

Yes, there have been a couple of threads that mentioned this problem following the installation of aftermarket RSBs, more so with the Progress than Comptech, OEM 6M (on 5A cars) and Type-S RSBs. I don't recall if there was a solution mentioned in those threads other than replacement of the brackets, though.

G/L.

AndrewA

iTrader: (3)

What timing. I was under my car doing my rear bearing hubs and brakes and saw this exact same problem. What's interesting (at least to me) is that I was playing daddy day care the last few days while my wife was out of town. So I had the kids in the rear seat quite a bit the last few days. At one point, I accelerated quickly to overtake another car because two lanes merged into one along a curving onramp (Meanwhile, the kids were yelling, faster faster daddy). It felt to me that the car was a little swervy for lack of a better word. I usually don't have the extra weight in the back. I should have suspected the rear sway bar wasn't working...

Here are some pics:









I just looked and the end link bracket (item 9/10 above) is a $15 part. I have some Moog end links I was considering installing, but where the end link bracket and the subframe are more likely the weak links, i may just order some OEM end links and install those on both sides while I'm tackling this job.

It seems you need to remove the lower damper mounting bolt along with the ABS sensor and brake fluid line and then one bolt that you remove and reinsert to 33 lb ft.

I just wish I'd noticed it before tacking tonight's job and I would have done it at the same time. Oh well.

Project_CLean

iTrader: (2)

Wow,that's the first I've ever seen one of those snap. Hope you get it fixed.

I hate cars

This one is easy, you have the wrong nut. It should have a flange on it to prevent this sort of thing.

Usually when something like this breaks its because it was loose. I broke my bracket too but it was at the larger lower bolt hole. It was cross threaded and left very loose. In the time it took to order a new bracket and bolt and nut it had broken completely. If you reuse that nut, use a washer.

motoboat

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, ill check out all the bolts. im sure of the shop installed it that way then they are all the same. Cheap endlinks, you get what you pay for lol

I will throw some washers on there till I find a decent replacement.

cazio

iTrader: (3)

yea those def are the wrong nuts. both are flanged at either end of the end link and the one on the sway bar is actually a flanged locking nut. those progress RSB are known to do some damage to that bracket but more so the welds brake on the RSB mounts, that's more common. if def look into reinforcing and absolutely would go with oem bar links

AndrewA

iTrader: (3)

Ok so I tackled this over the weekend and recommend the following steps:

1) stick a flat head screwdriver up behind the end link bracket to deflect the clip for the abs sensor wire. once it's pushed in enough, you can remove the sensor wire from the end link bracket

2) remove the brake fluid line (torque for reinstall is 16 lb-ft)

3) loosen, but don't completely remove the lower shock flange bolt. You want to back it out far enough that it no longer engages the end link bracket. You don't want to completely remove it from the shock or the knuckle. Otherwise it will take some force to re-align the shock and knuckle and get the bolt back in. (torque for reinstall is 43 lb-ft)

4) finally remove the bolt that secures the end link bracket to the knuckle and remove the broken bracket. Installation is in the reverse order, BUT don't completely tighten this bolt until the shock bolt is tightened. (torque for reinstall is 33 lb-ft)

Of course, the end link needs to be reattached between the stabilizer bar and the new end link bracket. Keep the end link joint pins from rotating by inserting a hex (allen) wrench and tightening the flange bolt to 28-29 lb ft.

Ideally, the shock bolt and the sway bar end link nuts are not fully tightened until the suspension is loaded and the weight of the car is on the suspension.

AndrewA

iTrader: (3)

Here's an update to the next problem with the Progress RSB. The evidence of this failure was there in front of me the whole time, I just didn't think to look. Check out the lower right hand side of the picture above where I laid out the steps to replace the end link bracket. I'm attaching a zoomed & cropped picture of the sway bar sub-frame mount when I took this picture in June of 2013. It was already starting to crack. Now it's completely broken loose and clunking pretty bad. I'm going to disconnect the sway bar until I can get it welded. Then, I'm going back to the OEM 6MT swaybar.

nttstt444

iTrader: (1)

I havent taken a good look at mine since around Christmas time. Thanks for the reminder.

Buda

iTrader: (1)

I've replaced 3 brackets so far on mine with the progress rsb. Never had a problem with the comptech rsb. I'm also using the fast line end links. The last time I replaced a bracket I moved the end links to be on the "22mm" hole, the one closest to the bar body, to see if that helps. The outer hole on the rsb is just to far out there and the end link can't get the right angle going to the bracket mount point. I'm hoping moving to that inner hole fixed that problem. I need to check as I have coilovers now which could be compensating for the increased body roll caused by a broken bracket.

Buda

iTrader: (1)

I checked my end link brackets and neither are broken for 9 months now and the mounts to the subframe are still good. Moving to the inner hole closest to the bar and also adjusting the length of the Fast Line end links seemed to have done the trick. I'm sure the new suspension is probably helping too.