Clicking sway bar - my fix.

[Rdrnr]

I noticed some sway bar “clicking” on my Lamonster anti-sway bar. I took it apart and cleaned everything. Put the bushings back in and tightened the bushing bolts perhaps a bit more than I had. I couldn’t find a torque value so I went with, to quote My Cousin Vinny, “balls on tight”, it’s a technical term. I noticed less sideways movement in the bar after that. While taking it apart, I noticed the collars that help prevent sideways movement were wearing on the portion of the frame that’s slightly past the surface the collar mates too. I added an O ring to slightly keep it off the wear portion of the frame. Too hard to get a grinder in there to clean it up. When I put it back together I flipped the collar and you can see the wear. We shall see


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[jzeiler]

The bushings are tight enough when the split in the bushings "puckers" outward.

 

[Rdrnr]

The bushings are tight enough when the split in the bushings "puckers" outward.

On my bushings the split is at the top with angles that correspond to the radius in the frame channel. The bottom of the bushings is flat without a split.

 

[Snoking1127]

On my bushings the split is at the top with angles that correspond to the radius in the frame channel. The bottom of the bushings is flat without a split.

The bottom "Puckers" down a bit when tightened correctly.

 

[Rdrnr]

The bottom "Puckers" down a bit when tightened correctly.

I will look. Thanks...

Puckered

 

[TheMariner]

My personal experience is that greasing the OUTSIDE flat surfaces of the bushings (DO NOT lubricate the round surface the swaybar itself runs in) prevented the clicking sound. I believe natural manunfacturing tolerances of the steel channel the bushings fit into are wide enough so that in some cases, tightening the bushings bolts is not enough to prevent the bushings sliding up and down a little, creating a stick-slip-stick situation.

Greasing the outside of the bushes doesn't stop the bushes moving a bit, but it eliminates the noise when they do.