Sway bar links aligned funny

2001 Tacoma 2wd 5 lug

My front sway bar links recently broke and I replaced them with ones purchased from RockAuto. This was a few months ago.

They were hard to put on because the angle where they connect to the sway bar just seems…not right. But with some prying and jacking the wheels up so I could move the suspension up and down, got them on enough to get the nuts on and used the nuts to thread them on the rest of the way. The end result looked not right though- the bushings were squished in what felt like the wrong angle.

Side notes: At the same time I also replaced the rubber bushings where the sway bar attaches to the truck. Everything was torqued to spec.

Fast forward to now and I’ve noticed the truck bottoming out in the front and making a clunk noise.

Took a look at things today and you can see that on the driver side both top and bottom bushings on the link are missing. On the passenger side, the top bushing is there, but the bottom I was able to just pull out because it was torn. I believe the clunking noise is coming from the sway bar moving up and down on the links without the bushings.

Clearly something is not right and just a few months of driving destroyed the bushings causing them to fall out. I’m not surprised given the weird angle at time of install.

So my questions are:

1. Am I somehow completely installing the sway bar and links wrong? (I couldn’t see any other way things could go but I may be wrong)

2. Could there be something else wrong that is causing this misalignment?

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

There's supposed to be rubber grommets on the bolt where it goes through the sway bar, one above, one below. They look like they're missing

And holy f--k that's a lot of rust. The upper control arms look like they're ready to break off. Same with the springs

 

Supposed to be caps on both sides of bushing?

 

https://por15.com/collections/all-kits

 

looks like one of the coils springs is broken or collapsed on one side. Is there a noticeable difference in ride height side to side?

 

Yes, when I was describing the bushings that broke and fell out I’m referring to those grommets. I should have called them grommets, not bushings.

I know they’re missing - I’m trying to figure out why things are so out of alignment that they got f’ed up enough in only 3 months to fall out.

I don’t see where the coil is possibly broken- could someone annotate it on one of the images?

And yes I know it’s a rusty mess. Truck was recently acquired. It’s on the todo list.

 

Sorry I see what you mean about the coil now. On the bottom, two rungs of the coil are sandwiched together.

 

Maybe loosen the swaybar from mounts while you connect the links, it might rotate some, at least could be less of a fight, tighten whole back and fourth little by little to prevent it from binding

 

If the ride height is too low the sway bar will be pointed up away from the lower arm and the links will be at a crazy angle. It'll be harder to line everything up and get the grommets and top nut on.

How's the ride height? Is it lower than other 2wd trucks you've seen. Take pic so we can see

Looks like the sway bar could be rubbing against the frame here

Hard to tell in the pics but it looks like the coils springs are bunched up and touching at the bottom. Like possibly broken.

 

@T4R If I’m remembering correctly, I had to do exactly what you’re describing to get them installed. Needed the extra wiggle on the sway bar.

 

Not trying to be a jerk, but I don't think that vehicle is safe to drive

 

Thanks @b_r_o that’s very helpful. I’ll check the ride height tomorrow.

I bet the coil broke, which caused the sway bar links to originally break in the first place. And then when I replaced them the angle was screwed causing the grommets to very quickly fail.

Seems like its obviously time to do a full front end suspension replacement given everyone’s disgust at the state of things

 

Not sure but looks like sway bar is on wrong.
Flip that thing around and the ends will line up more square to the links.

 

Yep, I think you're right. I just Googled and found this thread. The lower link mount looks different but the bar appears to line up better

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1st-gen-5-lug-2wd-front-suspension-rebuild.719498/

 

Agreed, it looks like the swaybar is upside down and those are not OEM links. You have bigger problems with that rust though.

 

The photo in my Haynes manual looks like the sway bar link in the thread you linked to.
On that truck it's a straight connection like this: I
But on mine, it's a perpendicular connection like this: L

You can see the lower bracket it attaches to is different. His bracket is horizontal, mine is vertical.

Here's a side by side photo:



I don't know why they're different. I do know the new links I put on a) were a match of the ones I took off and b) what RockAuto sells for a 2001 Tacoma 2.4l RWD:



As to whether the sway bar is upside down - I thought the same thing when installing it since things were lining up so poorly. But when I flipped it it was way off, like it swooped down under the lower control arm instead of over it. I even had a buddy come out when I was installing it because things were lining up so poorly to see if they could see any other way it should have gone.

All that being said, I will flip it tomorrow to double check, because maybe I'm misremembering.

Here's another thing I noticed when looking at the suspension in the post you linked to- the bottom two coils are smushed together like on mine, so now I'm not longer thinking the coil is actually broken. I looked closer at it today, and I didn't see anything cracked/broken.



I measured the ride height today and it's even on both left and right side. The front end does sit a little lower than the back end, but I've always noticed that about these 2wd Tacomas.

I appreciate everyone's concern about the rust. I know it looks bad. It's on the list. This is a "weekend" truck and not a daily driver. It will be parked until all issues are resolved. It's currently on jack stands getting bathed in penetrating spray in preparation for a suspension overhaul - although I suspect most bolts are going to have to be cut off

 

You'll get it sorted out.

Welcome to TW

 

Think you have the wrong sway bar,,,, most likely that one is for 2.7 tacomas/4runners.....and I think its upside down.....notice how the bars 'drop' on the sides instead of twisting up like yours....

For a normal oem 5lug it should be straighter across without the sides flaring up into the frame like that.




According to this pic.....yours is upside down....

 

Think you've got the bar upside down or its the wrong bar all together.
Everything on that above pic suggests that.