Cusco 21mm rear bar - install problem?

I recently installed the Cusco 21mm rear bar. The bar puts my endlink at an angle, especially under compression. I'm concerned that this angle, combined with the increased stiffness of the bar, will put force on the frame mount in a front/rear direction, potentially causing the frame mount to weaken (or fail?).

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/yukon...ukonm/my_photos

Is the bar installed correctly?

Are other people seeing similar angles with their sway bars when the suspension is compressed?

xenonK wrote this:

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you just need to turn the swaybar up so that that the end link is facing towards the control arm, not away from it as you have shown.

Keefe

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I'm sorry, but I didn't understand these directions. If anybody can clarify, that would be great.

xenonK wrote this:

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you just need to turn the swaybar up so that that the end link is facing towards the control arm, not away from it as you have shown.

 

Keefe

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I'm sorry, but I didn't understand these directions. If anybody can clarify, that would be great.

Twist it towards the back of the car.

Was that pic taken when your car was up on the wood????

Yes, the wheel shown is the driver rear wheel, the one up on wood blocks.

"Twist it towards the back of the car"

When you say "it", do you mean that I should rotate the swaybar around the frame attachment point towards the back of the car? As far as I can tell, the swaybar 'arms' must point towards the front of the car (the frame attachment point is near the mufflers, which are behind the rear axles).

In order to make a change, something has to be disconnected, then reconnected. Which connection do I need to unbolt?

Yes, the wheel shown is the driver rear wheel, the one up on wood blocks.

 

"Twist it towards the back of the car"

 

When you say "it", do you mean that I should rotate the swaybar around the frame attachment point towards the back of the car? As far as I can tell, the swaybar 'arms' must point towards the front of the car (the frame attachment point is near the mufflers, which are behind the rear axles).

 

In order to make a change, something has to be disconnected, then reconnected. Which connection do I need to unbolt?

Put the car flat on the ground. Then look to see if the endlink is angled towards the front. Your putting torsion on the bar by having one side up on wood blocks.

When the car is flat, I noticed the the endlinks are somewhat angled toward the front. (This is the reason I decided to try the diagonal-torsion-test in the first place -- I wanted to see if the angle got more extreme under compression or lack of compression )

By the way, the car demonstrates no abnormal symptoms during driving - I just want to avoid catastrophic failure.

I'll take a picture when the car is flat, hopefully later this week.

once I get my camera either today or tomorrow, I will take pics of the same angle and shot to show you how the bar should be mounted.. you need to rotate the sway bar so that the endlink is angled facing the front..

your picture shows the endlink like this "/" when it should be like this "\" (it should be away from the axle boot).

Keefe

As promised! Here's what your sway bar and endlink should look like when positioned correctly:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/xenonk2828/GT-Car/IMG_0028.jpg

Keefe

As promised! Here's what your sway bar and endlink should look like when positioned correctly:

 

 

Keefe

Any more pics of the Cusco Type II rear arm bar?

Umm, I can post the pics of those tomorrow under the "cusco version II brace" thread..

Keefe

So took pictures with the car level on the ground (below). As you can see, the endlinks are still angled.

I did my best to measure the length of the Cusco bar while on the car. I also measured the stock bar.

I would estimate that the arms on the Cusco bar are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch longer than the OEM bar.

Keefe, Thanks for the photos. I would say your bar fits correctly, I'm not so sure mine does. There are no adjustments that would allow me to rotate the bar. Please tell me if you think otherwise.

That's odd, of all the sway bars I have installed from Cusco, all are made perfectly to fit. I am not sure what else that there can be that you can do to make it work. To my knowledge, rotating the whole bar so that end of the sway bar is the same radial distance from the pivot point of the endlink would make it not hit the CV boot. I dont know how much I can describe it, but I was there working on your car, I know I can get it work. I still have to take pics of the Underbrace bars and such as soon as I get a good dry day here in Maryland.

Keefe

I have the same RSB with the AVO endlinks...and it lines up the same. if you imagine the RSB bushing as your point of rotation, rotating the bar doesn't help or wont help...i don't have a problem with anything hitting...

on the previous page if you take a look at XenonK's sway bar he has the adjustable RSB and the angle of bend for his mounting holes is more direct then the "Current" non-adjustable RSB, hence the endlink not lining up...

all in all the Cusco RSB (ver.2? or non-adjustable) with the AVO endlinks work just fine, no rubbing, hitting or noise...just the pesky minor squeel from the bushing!

here is mine...

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/m_baylon/detail?.dir=629d&.dnm=ee87.jpg&.src=ph

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9857&highlight=cusco+zero-2

snodork,

Thanks for the photo. In the photo, is your car resting on its wheels or is it up on jacks?

I agree with you that rotating the bar won't help (esp. if the bar arms are longer than oem). Adjustable end-links could help when the suspension is either compressed or expanded, but since my springs are stock, the OEM endlinks should be correct assuming the ARB has stock geometry. To clarify, I'm NOT having problem with the bar hitting the CV boot. I'm mainly concerned that the frame mount might be weak if I start putting force in a front/rear direction (e.g. via the angled endlink).

Thanks for the help so far.

Does anyone know of any other 20-21mm rear ARBs? [i also have the hollow JDM 20mm bar, but I would prefer a just-slightly-stiffer rear bar. ]

Another option is going with a softer-than-OEM front ARB. Unfortunately, the Base 2.5 Legacy Front 20mm front bar doesn't fit on the GT due to an extra kink.

Thanks for the help so far.

 

Does anyone know of any other 20-21mm rear ARBs? [i also have the hollow JDM 20mm bar, but I would prefer a just-slightly-stiffer rear bar. ]

Which hollow JDM 20mm bar do you have? I have the JDM Subaru OEM LGT 20mm RSB and it is beefy and solid, so I wanted to clarify that you were referring to another JDM bar. My bar was part of a group buy from AvoTurboWorld.

SBT

Which hollow JDM 20mm bar do you have? I have the JDM Subaru OEM LGT 20mm RSB and it is beefy and solid, so I wanted to clarify that you were referring to another JDM bar. My bar was part of a group buy from AvoTurboWorld.

 

SBT

Yes, the AVO group buy JDM bar is hollow.

Kevin

Yukonm:

The pictures of my car are of it up on a lift...i'll try to get a couple pics of it on the ground...

merv

Which hollow JDM 20mm bar do you have? I have the JDM Subaru OEM LGT 20mm RSB and it is beefy and solid, so I wanted to clarify that you were referring to another JDM bar. My bar was part of a group buy from AvoTurboWorld.

 

SBT

Yes, I have the JDM Subaru OEM LGT 20mm RSB via AvoTurboWorld. It is excellent for daily driving.

Yukonm:

 

The pictures of my car are of it up on a lift...i'll try to get a couple pics of it on the ground...

 

merv

Thanks, I appreciate it.

By putting the two right wheels on the sidewalk, i made more space to take the pics. For the photo angle, I tried to have the camera approximately lined up with the drive axle.

Cusco is 21mm in the rear, solid.

Keefe