Rear sway bar link issue -- 97 Suburban

[turdburban]

I recently purchased a 97 K1500 Suburban. Everything was great except the rear sway bar links clunked. Got under there to replace them and they are a weird adjustable unit (see pics). The clevises on the truck are too narrow to accept stock end links, and the old links are a couple inches longer than stock.

I assume this is because a PO put on an upgraded sway bar back in the day. I am curious if I am able to purchase this type of end link anywhere? No idea about what brand they are. The ends are a narrower width and the bolt is thicker than stock.

The truck doesn't appear to be lifted at all. I'd be happy with a stock sway bar setup, but I assume it'd be easiest to just replace the end links at this point, if possible. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks for your help.

T

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[sewlow]

Those 'adjustable' lnks are some kinda hokey home-made B.S.
Pix of the actual bar mounted on the diff. & of how it's attached? That'll show if the bar is a factory set-up or not.
Post up those & I may be able to help you from there.

 

[turdburban]

Thanks sewlow, that sounds right. Definitely hokey lookin. I guess if I extend them all the way out the truck will actually roll into the turns. Would probably handle better than my Miata.

Here are pics of the bar and the clevises on one side. I pulled the link on that side off and left the other one on to hold the bar up off the ground. The clevises that are on there are about 1/8 - 1/4" too narrow to fit the OEM links.

T

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[sewlow]

Definitely not a factory bar. The way it's mounted to the diff with those U-bolts is the manner in which aftermarket non-originals are mounted. Nothing wrong with that method. Same way my '97's is mounted, which is a factory SUV bar on a vehicle not originally equipped with one.
The proper way that a sway bar is mounted in order to work as designed requires a bit of geometry.
It has to parallel to the diff. & the ground. You can adjust that via those U-bolts.
The ends should neither be pointed up or down, but square to the frame. That's where the length of the end links come into play.
Instead of using those homemade ones, I'd use those other ones you posted.
Those new ones look like the metal end with the holes is about the same width as those hokey ones & it's the bushings that are too wide. Sway bars don't suffer a lot of side-to-side play from the vehicle's suspension. The pressure on them is on a vertical plane.
What I'd do is grind down that excess width of the bushings & install into the brackets with new bolts.
Those new ones too short? The angle of the sway bar off? (Probably why those wrong ones were made to be longer.) Then, I would install a spacer plate between the frame bracket & the frame with longer bolts in order to bring it down so as to get the bar back to the correct angle.
Hope this helped.

 

[turdburban]

That sounds like a great plan. I appreciate all the info -- didn't know that about the geometry of sway bars. The metal insert on the new links does extend to the edge of the rubber bit (or very close), so I'll have to grind metal too, but that's no problem. Any recommendation on what to use as a spacer for the bracket? I'm sure I can figure something out. I could use washers to make it a real backwoods repair job.

Thanks again, sewlow. Much appreciated. I'll update this weekend when I dig into it.

 

[sewlow]

No prob. The Karma's pretty good here. I've learned a ton of stuff over the years about these trucks on the forum. Just doing a fair turn-about. Passin' on what I know.

You're going to need a third hand, someone to help to hold the sway bar in position where the ends are supposed to be while you figure how short those links are. The bar will swing up-n-down on the diff mount bushings. Once you find the difference between the end link & the mount. I'd just use some steel plate cut to width of the frame & the length of the frame mount. Stack layers if you have to.
Oh yea. The sway bar has to set-up with vehicle as level as possible with the weight on the wheels, so you'll be on the ground on your back doing all this. Damn eh? Lol!

 

[eyeroc87]

I put a ‘97 suburban rear sway on my ‘94 C1500. ‘97 Tahoe links cut, turned 90* and cut out 3/4” and rewelded. Looks good works good.