EVO MFG sway bar end links

[stewmaster]

Last night I excitedly installed some EVO HD front and rear sway bar end links. These replaced the AEV ones that came with my lift that were trashed after a year. The EVO's are awesome and well built. They come with spacers to allow the helm joints to pivot instead of sitting flush up against the mounts. These seem particularly important in the rear where the sway bar mounts to the frame. The problem is that there are no instructions included with the rear set showing how to use these spacers. As you will see below, I fear these spacers are too large and will cause the bolt that mounts to the frame break or strip out. I have looked through the forum for other threads, and found little. The sole video on youtube only shows the front and is not helpful. I am looking for advice on how this looks as to me it seems sketch. I tried calling EVO and no answer. I have an email in with them but this is our daily driver so I am looking for a today or tomorrow fix. Here's how it looks:

It should also be noted that bolt has about a 1/4 inch or so at the start with no thread on it.
I had an idea for a possible solution, but I am nervous to try it and find out the hard way. I have these bolts that came with the AEV sway bar links to mount them to the bracket. The oem bolt was used to mount the bracket to the frame. They are quite a bit longer and seem to have the same thread. I started one by hand into the mount and it seemed to go fine, but once it got difficult I stopped in case I was wrong. If they are the same it could be a fix, but if they are a bit off and I strip that welded on nut then I am screwed:

For anyone who is still reading, the front also came with two extra spacers. Two were used for the passenger side to sit between the mount to the axle. But these two were different and packaged separately. I didn't install them on the driver side because of the same issue as the rear, it left too little thread in the nut. However, the driver side sits at a slight angle. I don't think its a big deal, but I don't know. The axle is center, I have an adjustable track bar and made sure of that after the lift. Here those front ones are and the angle I am talking about:

Thanks for any help and sorry about the long thread!

BONUS: EVO compared to a AEV end link with about 15k on it:

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[fourfa]

I probably wouldn't worry too much for a paved daily commute. But those spacers are definitely too long, and you're not getting enough thread engagement. You should be able to find thinner spacers to fit what you need at a well-stocked Ace Hardware, which will let the unthreaded nose of the bolt stick all the way through the frame nut, and reduce the bending moment on the frame mount.

However while you're in there, I'd add the Metalcloak mount reinforcements. You've seen yourself that the mounts are thin and relatively unsupported sheet metal in the back. We've seen a lot of those tear out when articulating, even on stock vehicles. And in other cases, we've seen the thin rear sway bar links buckle and bend. Those EVO links are not going to bend - they will surely transfer all that force to the frame. That reinforcement plate can handle that load much better than stock.

 

[stewmaster]

I probably wouldn't worry too much for a paved daily commute. But those spacers are definitely too long, and you're not getting enough thread engagement. You should be able to find thinner spacers to fit what you need at a well-stocked Ace Hardware, which will let the unthreaded nose of the bolt stick all the way through the frame nut, and reduce the bending moment on the frame mount.

However while you're in there, I'd add the Metalcloak mount reinforcements. You've seen yourself that the mounts are thin and relatively unsupported sheet metal in the back. We've seen a lot of those tear out when articulating, even on stock vehicles. And in other cases, we've seen the thin rear sway bar links buckle and bend. Those EVO links are not going to bend - they will surely transfer all that force to the frame. That reinforcement plate can handle that load much better than stock.

thanks I’ll look into those

EVO responded right away so that’s awesome. They said it looked like I had it installed correctly and they haven’t had any issues with that amount of thread in contact. Seems sketch to me even though I know I should trust EVO.

Even though it’s a daily driver I wheel it 6-10 times a year, usually on some moderately intense trails. If the bolt snaps I’ll be sad.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

Last night I excitedly installed some EVO HD front and rear sway bar end links. These replaced the AEV ones that came with my lift that were trashed after a year. The EVO's are awesome and well built. They come with spacers to allow the helm joints to pivot instead of sitting flush up against the mounts. These seem particularly important in the rear where the sway bar mounts to the frame. The problem is that there are no instructions included with the rear set showing how to use these spacers. As you will see below, I fear these spacers are too large and will cause the bolt that mounts to the frame break or strip out. I have looked through the forum for other threads, and found little. The sole video on youtube only shows the front and is not helpful. I am looking for advice on how this looks as to me it seems sketch. I tried calling EVO and no answer. I have an email in with them but this is our daily driver so I am looking for a today or tomorrow fix. Here's how it looks:

It should also be noted that bolt has about a 1/4 inch or so at the start with no thread on it.
I had an idea for a possible solution, but I am nervous to try it and find out the hard way. I have these bolts that came with the AEV sway bar links to mount them to the bracket. The oem bolt was used to mount the bracket to the frame. They are quite a bit longer and seem to have the same thread. I started one by hand into the mount and it seemed to go fine, but once it got difficult I stopped in case I was wrong. If they are the same it could be a fix, but if they are a bit off and I strip that welded on nut then I am screwed:

For anyone who is still reading, the front also came with two extra spacers. Two were used for the passenger side to sit between the mount to the axle. But these two were different and packaged separately. I didn't install them on the driver side because of the same issue as the rear, it left too little thread in the nut. However, the driver side sits at a slight angle. I don't think its a big deal, but I don't know. The axle is center, I have an adjustable track bar and made sure of that after the lift. Here those front ones are and the angle I am talking about:

Thanks for any help and sorry about the long thread!

BONUS: EVO compared to a AEV end link with about 15k on it:

I bet if you wait until AFTER King of the Hammers you will get an answer. EVO and a bunch of other folks shut down shop and partake in the awesomeness.

 

[mx5red]

just my opinion, but on this forum I have read nothing but problems and shoddy engineering regarding Evo products. I wouldn’t trust anything they say, you’re dead on worrying about insufficient thread engagement with those rear links. I’d use some thinner spacers as someone suggested... and the metalcloak reinforcement brackets
The sway links themselves look pretty good for what that’s worth.

EDIT: you front driver looks good to me. Icon for comparison.

Sure they didn’t give you spacers for the front passenger? Those ones on the rear just look too thick to make any sense… and bolt thread engagement

 

[stewmaster]

Sure they didn’t give you spacers for the front passenger? Those ones on the rear just look too thick to make any sense… and bolt thread engagement

im new to evo so thanks for the insight. I definitely like the idea of those metal cloak brackets.
As for the spacers, each set came on the link that it was supposed to be used on. And the front and rear sets were each sent in two separate packages so I have no reason to think they could have been swapped. The passenger front was covered in the not so helpful YouTube video, so I am pretty confident those belong there since the mount to the axle is special on that side.

I like the feel of these evos, but I don’t think it’s so much to ask for a simple set of instructions with a set of sway bar links, especially considering the rear had to be drilled out to a 1/2 on the sway bar.

 

[mx5red]

im new to evo so thanks for the insight. I definitely like the idea of those metal cloak brackets.
As for the spacers, each set came on the link that it was supposed to be used on. And the front and rear sets were each sent in two separate packages so I have no reason to think they could have been swapped. The passenger front was covered in the not so helpful YouTube video, so I am pretty confident those belong there since the mount to the axle is special on that side.

I like the feel of these evos, but I don’t think it’s so much to ask for a simple set of instructions with a set of sway bar links, especially considering the rear had to be drilled out to a 1/2 on the sway bar.

Right, my impression is some of their stuff seems fine but then there’s a problem with figment, etc. this seems like one of those scenarios. Assuming everything works fine, like the heim joints don’t crap out after 1,000 miles, those links look great. But they send janky looking hardware and no instructions.
Personally I’d keep the links and get thinner spacers. Looks like they could be half as wide and still work well, clear rotation of the links, etc. no reason for them to be an inch wide‍. Copy the front driver link. I think the front passenger link is different because you have to fill up the inside width of the bracket, otherwise you don’t need spacers that wide.

 

[stewmaster]

Right, my impression is some of their stuff seems fine but then there’s a problem with figment, etc. this seems like one of those scenarios. Assuming everything works fine, like the heim joints don’t crap out after 1,000 miles, those links look great. But they send janky looking hardware and no instructions.
Personally I’d keep the links and get thinner spacers. Looks like they could be half as wide and still work well, clear rotation of the links, etc. no reason for them to be an inch wide‍. Copy the front driver link. I think the front passenger link is different because you have to fill up the inside width of the bracket, otherwise you don’t need spacers that wide.

I think you are right. I’m definitely going to get smaller spacers. The helm joints don’t even rotate far enough to need that large of spacers. I don’t care what evo says about it being okay for two reasons:
1. They won’t replace the factory mount if it snaps.
2. that much bolt sticking away from the mount is looks too great for the leverage potential from the sway bar. (According to my high school diploma level understanding of leverage )

I like the links though. Solid. Hopefully the helm joints hold up, but if not they’ll be easy to replace.

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