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MG MGA - sway bar

How tight should the sway bar bushes grip the bar? Should it be so tight that all the motion is in the rubber, or can the bar be allowed to move inside?
Same question for the end links.
Art Pearse

Art while I do not have a sway bar on my A all my daily drivers do. My 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee goes thru bushings like there is no tommorow. I know that they are bad when they start making noise and the reason they make noise is that the bar wears the bushing and gets loose. The polyurethane last the longest for me.
gary starr

Gary, if thats the case, that the bush acts as a bearing, perhaps it should be lubricated?
Art Pearse

Urethane bushings are hard, and the shaft will rotate inside, no matter how tight the bushing may be on the shaft.

I once had urethane suspension bushings in my MGA for a few years, ran dry with no noise, and were like new 40,000 miles later, no perceptible wear. The fit was snug, but I could pull the bushing off the shaft by hand. I also use urethane parts in my aftermarket type sway bar with donut grommet type links. The end links last a log time with no noise.

Several years ago I changed from rubber to urethane for the sway bar frame bushings. It is common that urethane bushings are supplied with some form of lubricant when new. This is not because they wear, but because they sometimes squeak. Mine do. Apparently the lubricant didn't last very long before they were dry. Then they creak and groan like crazy with the slightest movement. I don't notice it during normal road speed driving, but when I slow down for a slow turn, or just a little bump driving into my garage they squeak. If I put one hand on a front fender and bounce it a little bit, they squeak. They never wear out.

I think the creaking and groaning may be cause by the bushing being too tight on the shaft. It is on my wish list to some day hone out the urethane bushings so they may have a couple thou clearance. If that doesn't stop the noise, then I would drill them and install grease fittings.
Barney Gaylord

Barney, so the answer is to let it rotate? Should I lube the rubber with Vaseline?
Where can you get urethane bushes for the original bar?
Art Pearse

My urethane Jeep ones do in fact have grease fittings.I have never had them squeek and lube them with the same that I use on the other suspension parts. I would think a tight fit would be better than any clearance. When the Jeep bushings go they get sloppy on the bar and the bar then, for want of a better word, "drums" in that loose bushing
gary starr

Yes it has to rotate. If there is no clearance you wouldn't be able to grease it. For it to hold grease there has to be at least 0.001 inch of clearance to allow for presence of the grease (same as trunnion bushings, kingpin bushings, crankshaft bearings).
Barney Gaylord

Do NOT use Vaseline to lubricate rubber as it eats some sorts of rubber (notably latex, to the dismay of many inadvertent parents when their birth control failed that way).

Use a purpose made suspension grease or any good silicone grease.
Bill Spohn

OK Bill, I'll wipe it off!
Art Pearse

Good job Art. Besides, what would your other half think if you were caught skulking off to the garage with a jar of vaseline.... ;-)
Bill Spohn

Good one Bill :-) I can just see it now- you love that car more than me!
gary starr

This thread was discussed between 26/01/2013 and 01/02/2013

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