Should the bushings in stock sway bar end links move?

[Pantera]

I removed my sway bar end links today and installed a set of aftermarket links from Baja Ron. The bushings on my stock links will not move a bit where as the aftermarket ones move very freely. Should the bushings in the stock links move freely like the aftermarket units?

 

[Peter Aawen]

I removed my sway bar end links today and installed a set of aftermarket links from Baja Ron. The bushings on my stock links will not move a bit where as the aftermarket ones move very freely. Should the bushings in the stock links move freely like the aftermarket units?

Yes! That's why so many of the OE Links actually fail!! :gaah:

If your OE link bushes were no longer moving at all, then it was just a matter of time before the placcy link twisted itself apart! :shocked:
Do you really need to ask me how I KNOW this occurs in that manner?!?

 

[Pantera]

Crazy! My machine is a 2021 model with only 800 miles on it.

 

[Peteoz]

Yes! That's why so many of the OE Links actually fail!! :gaah:

If your OE link bushes were no longer moving at all, then it was just a matter of time before the placcy link twisted itself apart! :shocked:
Do you really need to ask me how I KNOW this occurs in that manner?!?

But Peter, I have Ron’s metal links and they have seized up a couple of times over 3 years, so it’s not just the placcy ones. Ron knows about it. He suggested I use some WD40 to free them up and the spray with silicone. I usually check them every 12 months or so.

Pete

 

[RykerRick]

I changed mine out after only 200 miles and they were frozen.

 

[Peter Aawen]

But Peter, I have Ron’s metal links and they have seized up a couple of times over 3 years, so it’s not just the placcy ones. Ron knows about it. He suggested I use some WD40 to free them up and the spray with silicone. I usually check them every 12 months or so.

Pete

That may be so, Pete; but with metal links the bushes seizing won't be anywhere near the same problem as it is when the bushings seize on the OE placcy links! :lecturef_smilie:

Those metal links from BajaRon can withstand a whole lot more stress & pressure before they will begin to flex, and even if the bushes on the metal links don't move, all the twisting forces will still be transferred into the anti-sway bar, which is DESIGNED to flex under stress, and your ryde is still good/controlled by the bar doing its job! hyea: With the placcy links, when the bushes don't move, the next 'weakest link' (pun intended! ) is actually those placcy links, so once the bushings seize, they start flexing - and once the placcy links start flexing under stress, it's juuust a matter of time before they fail & snap completely! :shocked: And all the while the placcy links are flexing & degrading, the anti-sway bar simply CANNOT do its job properly because the torsional forces are at least partially being absorbed by the flexing links, so your ryde suffers!! And when they eventually fail, as they will unless the problem is resolved/they are replaced, your ryde REALLYsuffers!! :yikes:

I know which of those two options I prefer and if you have any doubts about which that might be, it's the one with the metal links that means the anti-sway bar STILL works even if the bushes don't move at all!! :thumbup:



All that aside, didn't BajaRon recently mention that he'd done or was doing something about improving the 'moving life' of those bushes in his latest iteration of those metal links?? Ron?? :dontknow:

 

[Peteoz]

Hahaha……..Peter, Peter, Peter…….all I said was that it wasn’t just the plastic links that freeze up….my metal ones do it too.
The reply was very informative though :thumbup:

Pete

That may be so, Pete; but with metal links the bushes seizing won't be anywhere near the same problem as it is when the bushings seize on the OE placcy links! :lecturef_smilie:

Those metal links from BajaRon can withstand a whole lot more stress & pressure before they will begin to flex, and even if the bushes on the metal links don't move, all the twisting forces will still be transferred into the anti-sway bar, which is DESIGNED to flex under stress, and your ryde is still good/controlled by the bar doing its job! hyea: With the placcy links, when the bushes don't move, the next 'weakest link' (pun intended! ) is actually those placcy links, so once the bushings seize, they start flexing - and once the placcy links start flexing under stress, it's juuust a matter of time before they fail & snap completely! :shocked: And all the while the placcy links are flexing & degrading, the anti-sway bar simply CANNOT do its job properly because the torsional forces are at least partially being absorbed by the flexing links, so your ryde suffers!! And when they eventually fail, as they will unless the problem is resolved/they are replaced, your ryde REALLYsuffers!! :yikes:

I know which of those two options I prefer and if you have any doubts about which that might be, it's the one with the metal links that means the anti-sway bar STILL works even if the bushes don't move at all!! :thumbup:



All that aside, didn't BajaRon recently mention that he'd done or was doing something about improving the 'moving life' of those bushes in his latest iteration of those metal links?? Ron?? :dontknow:

 

[TIMEMACHINE]

All of a sudden, I feel the need to spray my BajaRon links down with some PB Blaster or other deep penetrating oil. Thanks guys……something else for me to fixate on! :banghead::banghead:

 

[WhiteCat]

Yes, at its best, they should move.

But when you look at the installation on the Ryker, you can see the sway bar end links are installed in a vertical line between the sway bar and the suspension arm.
So when the sway bar moves, the suspension arm will also move in the same line up or down (and this whole movement up or down is indeed only very small).
So i think, there is practically no need for the bushing to move, because despite of the systems movement up or down,
there is practically no change in the angle of the force between the sway bar and the suspension arm. ​

When i changed mine, the stock ones also where like frozen.
But as i tryed to explain, i dont think this should be a great disadvantage, because they do simply not need to move appreciable in their normal usage.

Contrariwise maybe this fact, that they do not move in normal usage, lets them get stuck in frozen position.
Would they be contantly be moved due to influencing force and pitch, i dont think they would freeze, because thereby they would rather be held movable.

Regards
Michael

 

[Pantera]

Yes, at its best, they should move.

But when you look at the installation on the Ryker, you can see the sway bar end links are installed in a vertical line between the sway bar and the suspension arm.
So when the sway bar moves, the suspension arm will also move in the same line up or down (and this whole movement up or down is indeed only very small).
So i think, there is practically no need for the bushing to move, because despite of the systems movement up or down,
there is practically no change in the angle of the force between the sway bar and the suspension arm. ​

When i changed mine, the stock ones also where like frozen.
But as i tryed to explain, i dont think this should be a great disadvantage, because they do simply not need to move appreciable in their normal usage.

Contrariwise maybe this fact, that they do not move in normal usage, lets them get stuck in frozen position.
Would they be contantly be moved due to influencing force and pitch, i dont think they would freeze, because thereby they would rather be held movable.

Regards
Michael

I think you are on to something.I installed a set of nice aftermarket links and I am not sure that I can really feel any difference from the frozen stock links.

 

[Peter Aawen]

Yes, at its best, they should move.

But when you look at the installation on the Ryker, you can see the sway bar end links are installed in a vertical line between the sway bar and the suspension arm. So when the sway bar moves, the suspension arm will also move in the same line up or down (and this whole movement up or down is indeed only very small). So i think, there is practically no need for the bushing to move, because despite of the systems movement up or down,
there is practically no change in the angle of the force between the sway bar and the suspension arm. ​

When i changed mine, the stock ones also where like frozen.
But as i tryed to explain, i dont think this should be a great disadvantage, because they do simply not need to move appreciable in their normal usage.

Contrariwise maybe this fact, that they do not move in normal usage, lets them get stuck in frozen position.
Would they be contantly be moved due to influencing force and pitch, i dont think they would freeze, because thereby they would rather be held movable.

Regards
Michael

That 'vertical line' thing you quite correctly recognise Michael is something that's pretty much ONLY present when the suspension is AT REST, so once the bike's moving, what you are suggesting would be the case ONLY if both wheels ALWAYS moved up & down at exactly the same time & rate! But a torsion bar linking the two front wheels, ie, an anti-sway bar that is a 'straight spring'; so that if one wheel hits a bump or pothole, while it certainly TRIES to make the other wheel move in the same manner, the torsion bar actually twists and both the links & different sides of the suspension move independently thru different angles & sometimes even in different directions! :lecturef_smilie:

For example, just look at what occurs during cornering - one side of the suspension loads up & compresses, while the other side un-loads & extends - and the torsion bar that's the link between the two flexes as that occurs, sharing some of the extension/compression forces across both shock/spring assy's, but they STILL don't move in exact unison, so the links &/or the link bushes on each end need to be able move independently and thru different angles in order to allow this twisting movement to occur! And THAT's why the OE placcy links will eventually break once their bushes jam in one position - when the bushes can't move to allow that flexing as the angles change, the next weakest point does, and that's the placcy links! :shocked: And they will take only so much before they fail - and when they DO fail, & they WILL fail once the bushes seize - watch out! :yikes: .

However, when you have solid metal links like BajaRon's, unlike with the OE placcy links there is little/no flex in the links themselves at any time, so even when the bushes are working & moving as they should, most of the torsional flexing occurs in the bar itself, making it work better than the originals at minimising sway & body roll! And if the do eventually bushes jam/lock, then the small amount of 'extra flex' that occurs as a result simply gets transferred on into the anti-sway bar itself, which is a 'straight spring' or torsion bar that's designed to do exactly that and absorb exactly that type of torsional flexing! hyea: The extra rigidity in BOTH the metal links & the stronger bar itself is what makes BajaRon's bar work so much better than the original weaker bar with those eventually flexible links, and the bushes jamming/locking is a very minor addition to that! :thumbup: