Rear sway bar hitting chasis and making noises - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

***darksparkz*** · 05-22-2008, 10:03 PM

So, I've had the Whiteline rear sway bar installed for over 6 months now, and it just recently started making a clanking noise, as if it was hitting another piece of metal. It only makes this noise when going over bumps and potholes and such.

I've narrowed it down to the passenger side of the sway bar actually hitting part of the chassis itself, which actually looks to be the fuel tank or something under there. It seems that the sway bar is moving side to side a bit too much. Maybe I didn't put enough grease, or put too much grease initially. I need some way to prevent it from moving left and right and siding in different positions out of the bushings.

I am using the sway bar bushings that came with the whiteline sway bar kit, they are the yellow ones. Do I need a special type of grease? Or does this mean my sway bar end links are going out and causing too much play in the sway bar itself.

Black95Cam · 05-22-2008, 10:54 PM

did you pust new end links when you installed the sway bar?

***darksparkz*** · 05-22-2008, 11:58 PM

Only on one side, because I actually ripped apart the rubber boot. Would a worn end link be the issue? I was thinking of probably replacing the bushings possibly, but then the bushings are new.

EEngineer · 05-23-2008, 12:00 AM

u need new bushings..

SkinnyConHeo · 05-23-2008, 11:21 AM

pics?

Hajoca · 05-23-2008, 12:24 PM

I put a couple of pieces of 1'' hose (air hose ) on the sway bar an held them on with worm gear clamps to stop the sway bar from moving side to side, which is your issue there.

Mike Gerber · 05-23-2008, 05:59 PM

I had the same problem on a 98 with the stock swaybar. I replaced the swaybar bushings and that helped for a short period of time and then the noise returned. My problem was that the rear springs were worn and allowed the car to bounce too much. I replaced the rear strut assemblies with the Monroe Quick Strut assemblies and the noise was gone permanently; or at least the 6 weeks that I had the car after that, before it was totaled. How many miles on the car and are your springs original?

Mike

rdimpulser6 · 05-26-2008, 08:15 PM

I just fixed my sway bar clunking noise in the same spot.
I have the TRD sway bar, but this could help. I will also post as a seperate thread to help everyone with this problem, as I have had it and now one seems to now what to do, but keep replacing parts.

Most likely the sway bar is hitting the right corner of the fuel tank. It is actually hitting the rear corner piece that can be bent upward. If the car is on the ground you will not see it hit as the struts and sway bars are pushed up. Lift the car up letting the wheels hang down and inspect the sway bar for scratches or metal contact. You may also have some contact with the middle of the sway bar against the no 2 lower arm on both sides (inner most arm) where they connect to the car.

1.The reason you may be hearing the clunking now is that the sway bar bushing are completely broken in and have some play (they are suppose to), just enough to have metal contact with the tank. This is the most likely culprit as the fuel tank does not extend to the left side and the noise is only on the right.

2. the sway bar is thicker and may be just enough to cause metal contact.

3. On the TRD gen 4 sway bars are adjustable. If you leave it on the street setting, you will not hear the clunking noise from the middle lower arm attachment point. If you put it on the track setting the causes the sway bar to shift toward the back of the car leaving less of a gap between the middle of the sway bar and the lower arm attachement point. Hard bumps or coming out of a drive way at an angle can flex the bar enough to have contact. It is not a lot of contact, just enough to annoy the crap out of you. The attachment points have round washers that could be grinded about a mm or 2 to prevent this. This is only on the track setting.

I am not familiar with the whitline bar, but it may have enough flex in it to have contact in the middle of the sway bar.

***darksparkz*** · 05-26-2008, 11:57 PM

Could very possibly be the springs actually.

The whiteline bar is 20mm and is actually hit that tip of the gas tank. It was actually fine for quite a while before, it just recently started getting annoying.

I doubt it's the sway bar bushings that's wearing out, especially if they are pretty much just as new as the sway bar itself. It seems to possibly be the springs as mentioned or even the sway bar end links.

Springs are OEM at 120k miles, but struts have been replaced once about 10k miles ago, I definitely should've done springs as well.