Novice wrencher help please, does this look right?
 

Afternoon All, Just installed these Tarrett drop links and new sway bar bushings on my 79' SC. It looks to me like I have considerably more thread showing on the adjustable part of the link shaft than the car in the "How To" article and before I take it for a test drive I was hoping you more knowledgeable folks might check it out for me. Does this look correct or incorrect to anyone? Opinions appreciated!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1638735431.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1638735431.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1638735431.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1638735431.jpg

how much thread is inserted to the shaft... with wheel lugs, 7 threads are usually strong enough to hold the wheels in. but that is x5. Also, make sure that the sway bar has no pre-load (tension) so that they are no tension to them on flat road.

I would say there is about 7 threads in the receiving end. How can I tell if there is pre-load? Sorry to sound so dense but I haven't made any adjustments to the drivers side let. Wanted to make sure these looked ok to you all before I even took it for a spin.

I don't know what the instructions say. In general you want the links adjusted such that there is no jacking when the car is sitting on a flat surface.

You don't have the right hardware for mounting the sway bar to the trailing arms. The hardware you are using looks like it is for mounting to the spring plate. To mount to the trailing arm, you need different hardware with misalignment spacers.

Being that the sway bar and clamps are stock, why not adjust the length to whatever the atock ones are and just replace them with the same nuts and bolts?

if you can remove the bolt that holds the link there is no preload.
make sure you have weight in the drivers seat when checking.
and car is on the ground and preferably level or close to it.

Also a noob here, though I ran across this thread earlier in the year year when researching sway bar options and installation... might help you as well

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1100647-why-do-i-keep-breaking-tarrett-drop-links.html

Hi Scott, I appreciate the comment but take a look at the technical article from Pelican.
Here is the photo and the text that explains to use the eccentric nut that replaces the one in the spring arm (if you mount it there) and use it as a spacer if you attach to the banana arm.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1638804888.jpg


Install the drop link on one side of the sway bar only to start. Attach the female end to the banana arm and finger-tighten (red arrow). When attaching the Tarett adjustable drop link into the banana arm you must use the eccentric nut/spacer as a spacer between the link and arm. Raise the sway bar until its level with the hemispherical joint on the link and attach the lower hardware (yellow arrow).

I wound up having to unscrew quite a bit of the bolt in order to get the spherical joint to line up with the sway bar but it just looks as though it's too long.

TK, thanks for the link. Yes I see now. Like the original poster of that thread, I followed the instruction but I think Winders is right in that they appear to b binding. The spacer puts the link too far out to get the proper angle of the sway bar. I'm going to look at this again. I think John Walkers suggestion is a good one in addition to the Mcmaster spacers. I wish I found that thread when I searched before I attempted it. Pelican Parts and it's members are the best.

I haven't used these sway bar links. But my son races karts and we have to use rod end spacers to prevent binding.
I'm surprised they are not provided with the kit. The washers are a joke. That upper end can't move at all.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1638890901.jpg

Thanks Derrick, I looked at them again last night and you can tell that the eccentric spacer Wayne said to use is going to bind. As I said this is a new repair to me but that's why it didn't quite feel right. Like it should have had less restrictive movement. The spacers seem like a good fix but I wish there was a spec or dimension to refer to determine where the fitting should sit. There really ought to be a spacer kit that is associated with this part to avoid this headache. I may just bite the bullet and install it into the swing arm and utilize the new eccentric nut.

So using what we do for Karts.
You want to use the correct spacers and rotate both ends the same direction until they can't rotate any more. Usually the direction the jam nut tightens so they don't move.
The tighten the jam nut and you will have full movement back and forth and no binding.
The height is the adjustment part. That is where your tuning comes in.
If you have scales you can adjust them and it will move pre load and weight on the scales.
I wouldn't worry about them being vertical, just check for binding with a jack under one arm.

Tommy,

Don’t make it too complicated. Follow the above suggestion and keep it simple.

Tony