Loose sway bar

[SteinOnkel]

Hey kids,

is it normal that when the car is jacked up, that the rear sway bar is all loosey goosey? I can move it by hand no problem.

Wondering if I should tighten everything up while it's up in the air.

Cheers
Steiny

[RRoller123]

Not normal. Bushings worn, nuts loose, something ain't right.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Not normal. Bushings worn, nuts loose, something ain't right.

Agreed.

Are you talking about a rear sway bar or the Panhard rod that goes between one side of the axle to the other side underbody of the car? If the latter, my shop manual shows 57 ft lbs for the bolts/nuts on the ends of the Panhard rod. Make sure those are close to spec, and if they are, the rubber bushings are probably shot.

-Bryan

[Nanonevol]

No rear sway bar on a stock 124.

[SteinOnkel]

Thanks guys,

I'm talking about this friend:



That's not stock?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

That's the rear anti-sway bar all right. Perhaps a dealer option? In this case, I have no experience and so can't advise you on how it should "feel". Sorry...

-Bryan

[dinghyguy]

There is one on Mark ( one of my Fiat’s) and is not loose

Cheers
Dinghyguy

[DieselSpider]

OEM or aftermarket the sway bar bushings and links should be firm and have only the give of the rubber parts noticeable and no play or gaps.

[RRoller123]

+1

[SteinOnkel]

All the hardware that holds this thing is SAE - per the dpo's forte. Grrrr.

But it seems he or she had a sensible idea to retrofit this. It does seem awful beefy for such a small car. I'd wager the donor was an 80's S10 pickup.

Could it be? The dpo made a sensible upgrade?

I'm gonna torque everything down with my buddy the impact gun and be happy.

Thanks
Steiny

[DieselSpider]

Just be careful to not over torque the links compressing the donuts too much. If the bar is excessively stiff they may have set them loose to compensate. When your sway bars are to stiff you can get this kind of diagonal wobble/rocking sensation on uneven pavement which will get amplified the tighter you compress the rubber donuts on the links.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

All the hardware that holds this thing is SAE - per the dpo's forte.

Steiny, help me out here: What's a "dpo"? I'm assuming it's not dastardly previous owner or devious previous owner, but several other possibilities come to mind such as D&*% previous owner, or D-Bag previous owner.

Am I close?

-Bryan

[toyfiats]

That looks just like the aftermarket Addco swaybar that many vendors used to (and some still do) sell, and used SAE hardware. It shouldn't be loose jacked up or not. There's only a handful of nuts holding it all together, so it should be pretty obvious what's loose. I was never a fan of the stock rubber end links, so upgrading those is cheap, easy, and will make the bar perform more like it was designed to.

[SteinOnkel]

Bryan, it stands for dreaded

Tightened everything up today. Should be a little less rattly now.

Oh and the dpo routed the brake line to go under the u-bolts...which means they would have been crushed if I had just clamped it down. Sheesh.

Such a simply job...why half ass it like that? The Fiat deserves better

Anyways, looks exactly like the Adco one from AR. $210 upgrade - sweet.

Cheers
Steiny

[red107]

I added the rear sway bar to my spider. I was underneath doing some maintenance and notice mine was loose. There is a metal spacer ( C channel) that goes between the the axle and the bracket. Make sure its still there. I was lucky I didn't lose mine.