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Torque?

C

CLASSVT

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
738
Location
Fort Wayne, In
Tomorrow I'll be following the FAQ instructions to try and remedy some of the noise my rear suspension is making. It states to tighten the bracket to 14-19bl-ft, and the links to 22-30lb-ft. However I own plain old regular socket wrenches. I'm a little worried that I'm going to eff something up... any recommendations other than going out and buying new tools?:confused:
 
a torque wrench is a good thing to have around if you work on cars a lot, one can be had for a reasonable price..

but I have never used one when working on a car, just tighten it to the point where it is nice and tight and definately wont play around or walk itself out. I am assuming you are doing an overhaul on the rear sway bar, be CAREFUL when removing the brackets holding the sway bar bushings on, LOTS of PB blaster on those things, I did mine a while back, first turn and I snapped the bolts, and it turned out they werent even the cause for the klunking, it was the end links and them alone, I had to take the car to a shop and have the holl drilled and tapped.
 
$25? i would be concerned about that breaking or going out of calibration fast. just do a loner tool from auto-zone.
 
Without a torque wrench you also run the risk of over tightening something. Nothing chaps my hide more than someone cranking down on a metal screw until it strips out. I realize that this is a slightly different scenario but it's over tightening never the less and there's no excuse for it. :cool:
Karl
 
Well I am always careful not to overtighten, but I'm still cautious to not use a torque wrench when working on suspension. I didn't end up having the time to get to this, and after reading AliasJerk's response I am scared to even mess with it. Where are the end links in relation to the sway bar?
 
Check ebay, I've gotten a lot of used tools there (including one torque wrench) for great prices.
 
I just went through the same thing about 3 weeks ago. You won't need a torque wrench for this job.

1) If you have a clunking sound from the rear, and all seems fine, look at the endlinks. The endlinks are the (roughly) four inch pieces of metal that connect to the ends of the swaybar.

2) There are two "bushings" related to the endlinks. There is one that is located where the enlink connects to the swaybar, the other is located at the base of the endlink (larger and more obvious). The first one (connection at the swaybar) is the one that went bad on me. This is also one that you may not be able to tell it is bad as the joint remains solid.

3) NAPA has endlink kits for $23 bucks, you will need one for each side.

4) Don't just get the bottom bushings (which are like $6 a piece)

5) when tightening the bolts on the new endlinks, the bottom nut will suddenly become tough to turn well before it squishes the busing. The top bolt/nut can be tighted pretty good as on the replacement endlinks the connection is metal to metal and not metal to rubber. Use good judgement here though and don't try to lift the car with your wrench :crazy:

Good Luck

Oh, on a side note. A torque wrench is good to have, but if you decide to get one, get a good one, not a cheapie. Buying a cheap one is just as good as using none. (I bought a cheap one and never use it). There are only a few things on a car that you REALLY need a torque wrench for and not just good judgement.
 
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