stablizer bar question

"roger" wrote

The theory is that you want to tighten the retaining bolts in the position where the stabilizer bar bushing will be in a neutral position without any stress on the bushing. If you tighten it down while the wheels are off the ground (which extends the suspension) then when you let the vehicle down, the bushings will be constantly in a stressed position. It's not quite as critical for stabilizer bar bushings as they usually are not bonded to the bar, so they will move and probably find their unstressed, centered position. But for components like the bushings in the front control arms (which are bonded to both the outer and inner metal sleeves of the bushing) it's more critical to tighten those retaining bolts down when the vehicle is in it's "at rest" position.

Ian

|Hayne's manual says to not tighten the stabilizer bar retaining bolts (two |on left, two on right) until after I put the wheels back on and lower the |tires back down onto the pavement. Why can't I torque them with the tires |off the ground? I was just curious.

It's also worthwhile to make sure there is no pre-load before you tighten both sides. Rex in Fort Worth