How do you know when stabilizer bar links are tight enough?

Installed some new links on my fathers truck tonight. There is no room to get a torque wrench on the upper nuts so the only way is to do it with wrenches.

How do you know the top bolt is tight enough without squishing the rubber bushings on either side of the swaybar into a pankcake. The last set that was on the truck was destroyed and looked like a flat chewed up pankcake and I don't want it to happen again.

 

Just tighten the nut until the bushings squish a small amount.

 

That's what I thought. The links I took off weren't doing anything since they were so flat. The top nut was tightened all the way down but the stabilizer bar still had a ton of play inbetween the bushings.

 

Are you sure the heims on the links are good ?