Sway Bar Link question

I believe they are all the same and while I'd agree with you that it doesn't seem like the best design (and I happen to have a broken one too at 8 yrs /

80k and many autocrosses w/ upgraded swaybars) I don't believe it's a common problem.

Many aftermarket upgrades are available for mas dinero' ;-)

Chris

99BBB

Thanks Chris. I'll rest better tonight - james

James, the stock ones, even with the 'sport suspension' are pretty tame and still allow for a lot of body roll. The upgrades from Flyin Miata are much more fun, solid, and are adjustable to fine-tune it the way you want it. They do a lot toward increasing the turn-in response and transient handling and have no ride penalty. As long as you are under there, it might be worth a look. In general it took me more time to pull the tools out than to swap front and rear swaybars.

Thanks for the info. I've copied it for future consideration. 'Stock' doesn't look all that impressive - james

One other thing James, I don't recommend driving the car with one end link attached. You probably already thought of this but you definitely want to remove the other end link until you get the new and then re-install it at that time. In easy driving, you may not be able to tell any issue (don't know, didn't try it) but I'd be concerned about how the car would react if you had to make an emergency maneuver or went into a hard / fast corner.

Chris

99BBB

Thanks for the heads-up re one broken link. Actually, back in November, I was rear-ended by a 'big wheeled' 4x4 while waiting for the light to turn green at an intersection. "You were so low, I just didn't see you. I'm sorry!" My unexpressed response: "If you weren't up on stilted wheels, you would have seen me."

Anyway, about a week after the bodyshop completed their work {$3,350.00}, I'd occasionally hear a 'clunk' coming from what sounded like the left front side on the car. I 'assumed' it resulted from the bodyshop's work. I hate to admit, but I just NOW decided to crawl under and see what I could see - before returning to the bodyshop. Viola, broken driver's side front sway bar link. I can't really see how I could/can lay blame on the bodyshop.

The pick-up truck being so high up, hit the back of the Miata 'high.' The trunk lid was demolished. The bodyshop claimed ALL damage to be cosmetic. No structural damage noted. So maybe, the 'shock-force' of the blow caused the separation of the 4-pins from the link-end cup. I dunno. I can't really prove it was accident related{?}

Point being {back to your question/comment Chris}, I drove the car from November til now with one broken link. Only when I hit a bump just so - would a 'clunking' noise manifest.

However, as we speak, the Miata is up on jack-stands awaiting the new link to arrive - james

If it is a rear link then leaving the second connected will not cause any real issue. It just means that the car will be far more likely to understeer UNLESS there is something pinching/limiting the anti-swaybars travel. That is the only way in which it would have a detrimental effect. The rest of the suspension would be unaffected by having the loose/broken link.

Basically the anti-sway bar ties the two sides together in balance and limits their independant travel and limit body-roll. They also balance (through effective dynamic engineering) the front to rear handling of the car dialing in (or out) understeer, etc. Removing the rear on the Miata dials in plenty of nice boring understeer.

I did play with the adjustable Flyin Miata ones on my '93 including leaving the rear disconnected (and then the front) at an autocross as an experiment. Having only the rear on sure made it interesting for those watching the slide fest, but it was the slowest way around the track. ;)

This makes sense because the bar is not actually secured by it's two mounting brackets, it actually is allowed by the bushings, to slide back and forth. So, effectively, the brackets simply keep it in place and sort of 'guided' for lack of a better term. Having the one end link broken, the car should handle just like there is no rear bar attached (but noisier). Good point!

Chris

99BBB

That is essentially how it works. At the moment I only have one front link on my Wrangler attached and it allows for a lot more flexibility at the cost of some handling. I didn't do this on purpose, mind you, it's just that as with any other part of this stupid Wrangler it's yet another item that broke!

14 years with the same Miata, including numerous upgrades, autocrosses, track days, etc, and yet a stock Wrangler with half the miles has cost me 5x as much to keep on the road!

Sounds to me like good design, poor quality control.

Chris

99BBB

My Jeep has been fairly reliable, my Miata would have disintegrated in less than a mile on the roads the Jeep has been over.

I really suspect terrain has something to do with it....?

No doubt on Jeeps that get driven as Jeeps are intended, that's to be expected but I'm saying that it refers equally (maybe more) to those lesser Billy goats, the ones that pretty much never leave the same paved roads the Miatas traverse. What's your gut feeling on that?

Chris

99bbb

We don't know where "adventuremyk" drives his Jeep do we?

I've had several Jeeps and none have been troublesome.

I have had a pair and the family has had another pair. My first was a '93 ZJ (Grand Crappokee V8) and it was totally used up at 70k miles. If it was ever the same items breaking more than two times I'd have lemon-lawed the darned thing. Then came my '99 Wrangler which gets mostly highway (used to ferry the kayaks) and at one point was used as a well maintained work vehicle (street only). There was some mud running and soft-roading in there with a bit of technical stuff, but that is not the cause of the particular parts failing. The two the family had? Both newer grand cherokee's, and BOTH were lemon lawed with combined less than 25k miles on them.

This Jeep makes the last 'american' vehicle I am ever likely to waste my money on again. I just wish there was a competing vehicle in a similar class out of one of the Japanese companies. It's the only one where you can yank the doors and top off and get out and play, but that just isn't enough to compensate for the other continuing problems.

I've owned 3 Miata's, the first leased ('89.5 as a '90) and then the second ('93 which I kept for 14 years), and the last ('96M that my roomate bought from me when her lease expired on another car. She drove that one for 160k miles needing only basic maintenance and eventually a top before she traded it on an '07 Miata). ALL THREE combined, including two replacement tops and in one case setting the car up similar to Spec Miata, have cost me LESS than just the Jeep Wrangler during the cost of ownership. That's pretty pathetic for the domestic brand don't ya think? And with two of those Miata's having a heck of a lot more miles, not to mention being driven harder AND being considerably older, than the 80k that my '99 Wrangler currently has.

That's my current Jeep, I have more miles on it than that and it's been almost trouble free. I've replaced a fuel pump, one of the AC hoses and the radiator. It's done a fair amount of rough country 4 wheeling and trailer towing.

Nope, I participate in some 4wd activities although not as much now and my experiences are typical of most Jeep owners, your's are the unusual ones.

Well, here's opinion stated as fact if I've ever seen it, lol

Sounds like my basic impressions were right. You either get a good one or a bad one. It's definitely a roll of the proverbial dice!

Chris

99BBB

Nope, fact as reported by myself and other owners, all who drive very very aggressively. You might also avail yourself of the various consumer ratings which show that particular vehicle's reliability.