Sway bar will clunk on impact if one or both of the pivot busings are gone.
Thanks, but I already replaced all sway bar bushings with rubber.
I don’t think this is the clunk, but I’m curious if I mounted the new Bilstein shocks correctly. They came with all these parts. I used my good rubber Dorman bushings instead of the cheap yellow foam ones. I also didn’t use the sleeve, I assume it’s for the bottom, but the bolt fits fine without it.
I did go ahead and use the metal seats, and assumed they go between rubber bushing and car body. Is this correct? I tightened them snug enough where the rubber gets squeezed a bit into the large hole. The ones I removed had the rubber directly against the body with no metal seats.
The sleeve is for the top, and you’re supposed to tighten the nut down on it. It’s what establishes how tight the nut squeezes the upper bushings.
Now, about the washers. You should have washers between bushings and body that have a little lip on the ID that fits into the opening in the body. I can’t tell from the photo if yours have that. Typically, the washers on the outside of the bushings are supposed to be cupped so they surround the rubber bushing. Yours look flat, perhaps intended to mate with those weird bushings. Proper cupped ones are available everywhere since half the shocks in the world use them.
I put everything on in this order, bottom to top:
flat washer, rubber bushing, cupped washer (the outside edge cups around bushing, the inside edge fits into hole in body), body, cupped washer, rubber bushing, flat washer, nut.
So sounds like all I need to do is put that sleeve on before the nut. But I don’t understand why you can’t just tighten the nut against the flat washer like I did?
You’re not supposed to tighten the nut until it feels right. You’re supposed to tighten the nut until it tightens securely against the sleeve.
I don’t believe the sleeve will fit through the flat washers, so you’ll have to remove at least nut and flat washer to install it.
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So that would mean the sleeve would go through the bushings/body and bottom out on the lower washer. Correct?
Yes thats the correct orientation, it limits the amount of ‘crush’ the bushes are subjected to. Personally I would have used the bushes that the shocks came with. They look the same as the OEM Jag ones and yes they will break down over time but they are not that big a hassle to change out.
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I think I over-tightened, I couldn’t get the proper torque and kept going, and then noticed I had squeezed the Dorman rubber bushings into pancakes, so backed off a bit. I never put the sleeve in, so I guess that keeps you from over-tightening. PO didn’t have a sleeve nor the cupped washers!
I still have the spongy bushings that came with the Bilsteins, so I’ll redo with them. In addition to the clunk from what I think is the transmission mount, I have been getting a terrible metal clunk occasionally since putting in the shocks. Must be them moving around without a sleeve?
Thanks for the info guys!
BTW, the rubber bushings should also have a little lip that fits inside the cupped washer against the body. All of this is to keep the shock post centered so it doesn’t contact the body.
Some have reported such a clunk due to the bolts holding the diagonal struts in the engine compartment not being tight enough. They need to be really tight – and you’ll need a #4 Pozidriv to tighten the rear ones.
Yes, I noticed that. I pointed the little lip against the body. But without that sleeve, I could see the shock shifting back and forth a bit.
I saw that post over the weekend, and tightened my down, not loose. I’ve also since replaced those #4 Pozidriv screws with actual hex bolts.
So I just redid the shock bushings, sure enough, the cupped washers weren’t sitting perfectly in the body holes on the left side (where I heard the loud metal thunk). Without that sleeve in there, I guess it’s easier to move around? It may have also not been tight enough, because without the sleeve, I didn’t know when to stop tightening.
But one thing I hate about Bilstein shocks, the weak hex socket on end of shaft. I can NEVER get 30 ft lbs without stripping it. I got it as tight as I could against sleeve. Even though it’s a nylock nut, I’m going to put a second nut on to make sure it holds. Will test drive Wednesday.
Are you using a deep 6-point socket on it?
So two test drives, the occasional loud metal clunk (sounded like running over a piece of metal in street) is not happening now since redoing shock upper mounts (using the metal sleeve this time). I believe the two metal cupped washers covering the bushings were moving around in the body’s mounting hole. Either the sleeve has helped keep it centered in hole, and/or it allowed me to tighten it properly.
The clunks at low speed while turning, mainly left, are still there, but with windows up and radio off, I can be sure now the clunk is coming from below my seat - the transmission mount. It’s starting to happen a bit on right turns now too, I think it’s moving around too much. Engine mounts look good. So I’m glad I’m replacing the trans mount this weekend. I guess missing the transmission mount bushing makes a difference!
I also wonder if my ‘chasing stumble at idle’ is being mistaken by the bad transmission mount. The RPM looks steady, yet I feel a stumble in my seat. I’ve also noticed it happens at the exact same points of my drive, not at times of warm up. So perhaps just after cornering hard left, the transmission moves a bit to produce a vibration at the next stop. Then turning right up ahead, it centers out so the next stop I don’t feel it. It’s also more pronounced on uphill idles.