Sway bar extended drop links/brackets

[chapel303]

Hey guys,

I'm upgrading the 80s suspension, currently completely stock. Do I need to extend the drop links for the sway bar on a 2" lift? Wagons on 33s as well but toying with the idea of 35s.

Thanks in advance.

 

[HDJ79R]

I have a 2" lift on my HDJ79, which are the same radius arms, etc as an 80...

initially i believed the lift kit supplier, that said sway bar bush mount extensions were necessary...

what i found was, the sway bar then contacted the radius rods here:

And the more the rebound increased- ie: in roll, the worse the contact became...

So i ended up just throwing them in the bin, coz they were as ugly as shite, anyway.

With this height lift and no castor correction, the LHS has zero degrees castor, and RHS has 0.5 degrees...

So soon i'm fitting a set of 4 degree castor corrected arms (not just offset bushes)...

Then i'll revisit the idea of extensions, as to make the angle / leverage of the sway bar arms to become more favourable.

 

[chapel303]

Cheers for the feedback. I’ve done the front suspension today and will get to the back tomorrow. I have castor correction bushes but will need to do those at a later date when I can get someone to press them. Full arms would be the easiest option! Fulcrum do some lovely ones if I had the money to spank.

I’ll see how the rear goes, both my mates running 80s have gone for extensions and haven’t had issues. I’ll leave it as is for a bit and see how I get on before finding someone to fab some.

On another note, that is not what you want to see when you take off the old coil. Tragic. State of the steering and suspension in this wagon is pretty dire.

 

[Grimbo]

Cheers for the feedback. I’ve done the front suspension today and will get to the back tomorrow. I have castor correction bushes but will need to do those at a later date when I can get someone to press them. Full arms would be the easiest option! Fulcrum do some lovely ones if I had the money to spank.

I’ll see how the rear goes, both my mates running 80s have gone for extensions and haven’t had issues. I’ll leave it as is for a bit and see how I get on before finding someone to fab some.

On another note, that is not what you want to see when you take off the old coil. Tragic. State of the steering and suspension in this wagon is pretty dire.

View attachment 335463

I reckon before you even fit the lift you'd be better off sorting the basics and getting all the suspension mounts and brackets sound .
I've got a 2.5 inch lift and caster correction of some form will make it drive much nicer ..... extended drop links on the rear but depends what type of arb drop link you have.... mine are the type with ball joints so just a simple plate .... fronts....don't buy any....just make your own...I used some solid 25mm by 45 mm alloy bar and drilled to suit and used some 10.9 longer bolts.... TBH 90% of the time you won't notice the difference .... it just brings the roll bar in a little later and helps with making the initial travel a little more supple.

 

[HDJ79R]

........I have castor correction bushes but will need to do those at a later date when I can get someone to press them. Full arms would be the easiest option! Fulcrum do some lovely ones if I had the money to spank.......

Yep, i get it about budgetary constraints.

The reason i won't use offset bushes is because the additional stiffness stifles left to right articulation in roll, as the engineering of arm pick-up points has it that they are nearly always binding in any state other that flat level, and additionally, plastic bushes- offset type or not, make the ride too harsh.

 

[chapel303]

Suspension done. There is always one.. 1-2hrs to get that off.

 

[chapel303]

Getting to the sway bars now. They are in a sorry state, I’m genuinely tempted to just start buying entirely new suspension and steering components. Used the nolathane bushes (mixed reviews I know) but the drop link lower bush didn’t really seem to fit and actually bent the housing bracket. Anyone else had any issues with the size of them?

Separately, has anyone bothered removing, shot blasting and powder coating things like radius arms?

 

[chapel303]

Radius arm castor correction bushes done. Again, original ones were in an absolute state.

Ratchet straps and FSM are your friend when taking them off. I just cuffed it on a whim thinking it couldn’t be too hard and didn’t read anything in the FSM, when I was under my wagon with a headtorch in the rain at 2100 trying to get them back on I regretted that…

 

[felix2566]

Looks like its had a hard life!!

 

[chapel303]

Looks like its had a hard life!!

Parts of it you’ll look at it and think it was some old biddys daily driver, other parts look like it’s been back to backing Dakar.

 

[HDJ79R]

Separately, has anyone bothered removing, shot blasting and powder coating things like radius arms?

I don't do powder coating on anything... my issue being, one small chip and the water gets in down behind, and the whole rust cycle thing begins again.

i use one particular brand of polyurathane paint that's i've used for years, that proved it's durability, even when painted over imperfect prep.

 

[chapel303]

I don't do powder coating on anything... my issue being, one small chip and the water gets in down behind, and the whole rust cycle thing begins again.

i use one particular brand of polyurathane paint that's i've used for years, that proved it's durability, even when painted over imperfect prep.

I just sprayed them in the end. Trashed the finish in a few places when I was getting them back on anyway so powder coat would have been a waste.

 

[frank rabbets]

Yes powder coat is a NO NO for any outside use.