OP
05 Flame Red TJ Build
- Thread starter JMT
- Start date
What MPG differences do you notice on the 33’s vs 35’s?
OP
1-1.5mpg. I think if I regeared for 35’s rather than 33’s it wouldn’t have dropped when I moved to 35’s.
Last edited:
OP
SwayLoc install went pretty well other than the less than stellar install instructions and tool. After stripping the tool out I had to get a call from mrblaine to figure out how to get the arms on the big bar. Three minutes with him on the phone was better than ORO’s installation document.
The one issue I have is ORO only provides 4 misalignment washers. You really need 8 or your heims will be damaged on the bolt heads. @DrDmoney pointed this out to me. I opted for a bronze sleeve from Ace hardware cut into quarters that give enough spacing for misalignment without contacting the bolt head.
Other than that the ORO SwayLoc is the best on-road mod I’ve done. It is an absolute dream to drive. The stability is awesome. It is such a pleasure. I can tell just backing out of the driveway. It reminds me every time I’m in for a really nice outing. Doesn’t hurt that the weather is awesome right now and the top is off!
Here’s what the ORO improved for me.
1) driveability, as mentioned before, absolute joy. I’m spoiled now and I’ll always have one on my DD.
2) I had a shimmy from 40-45mph on left curves when hitting sewer drain lids and the like. It’s smooth as silk now. The AR was allowing some play that could get away from you (I was running it on the loosest setting and I should have tuned it to the tighter settings like @jjvw suggests).
The one issue I have is ORO only provides 4 misalignment washers. You really need 8 or your heims will be damaged on the bolt heads. @DrDmoney pointed this out to me. I opted for a bronze sleeve from Ace hardware cut into quarters that give enough spacing for misalignment without contacting the bolt head.
Other than that the ORO SwayLoc is the best on-road mod I’ve done. It is an absolute dream to drive. The stability is awesome. It is such a pleasure. I can tell just backing out of the driveway. It reminds me every time I’m in for a really nice outing. Doesn’t hurt that the weather is awesome right now and the top is off!
Here’s what the ORO improved for me.
1) driveability, as mentioned before, absolute joy. I’m spoiled now and I’ll always have one on my DD.
2) I had a shimmy from 40-45mph on left curves when hitting sewer drain lids and the like. It’s smooth as silk now. The AR was allowing some play that could get away from you (I was running it on the loosest setting and I should have tuned it to the tighter settings like @jjvw suggests).
OP
Oh great. Dumb dumb dumb dumb. Well, thanks. Did you put the upper heim on the inside of the arm near the frame? Or the outside?
OP
The instructions say if there is room you can put them on the inside. While looking at them it's obvious that it would keep the bolt head further away from the tire under articulation. I look forward to your pics.
EDIT: Oh, there are are, thanks! Much more interesting than a pic in the garage!
Although you could put the nut on that way, the bearing side of the nut is the other side, so cross-threading is easily done for some folks. The hardware that came with mine has an all metal nut with tri-lobular swage on the more conical side to create an interference fit to lock the nut to the bolt. It does allow more travel that way but still not as much as the misalignment bushing, putting the nut on the design direction, even less articulation is achieved. The rod ends that you switched to have a shank on each end of the ball that gives you better clearance, @JMT mimicked that with the brass bushing. Below is the type of nut supplied with my bar and some pictures showing the amount of interference both ways. I chose to remove material from the underside of the bolt head but I like Jeremy’s way better.
At the end of the day, mine at least, these ridiculously expensive high misalignment FK rod ends were the better solution. Nine months later and they are still just as snug as the day they went in.
I'm less familiar with how more typical installations survive. In my case, the 12" travel shocks created more misalignment than what the ORO rod ends allowed. Then I also figured out far later on than I care to admit that at full shock extension, the SL arm and link in the middle hole would bind against each other. Basically, my longer than normal shock travel along with the stiffness setting was tearing the ORO rod ends apart. When the FK joints went in, I lengthened the links a bit to eliminate the link/arm bind. And the high misalignment joints made everything happy down there.
Although I don’t have 12” travel shocks (the six-packs were 15” but they leaked) when cycling my suspension after going back to the Foxes, I noticed the contact on the side I left connected, as I loosened the sway bar bolt it drooped more. The bar and the links probably deflect enough when loaded to account for this but maybe this is why some are seeing worn rod ends. My original ends are still good and I’ve had my SL since before they were cool. I don’t use the original links anymore but for other reasons, I use the Currie links.
OP
Yeah, I went back and looked at the chamfered nut and checked for clearance. It's not enough to limit misalignment even under no articulation, so I realized I need to stay with my current bushing solution, chamfer the bolt heads more, or try a different rod end like @jjvw. Last thing is to cycle the suspension to see what happens to the misalignment under articulation. Hopefully this is helpful info for others who are doing the SL with the current hardware sent out by ORO. Thanks guys...
That depends on what the shocks allow. I would be surprised if ORO has binding issues with 11s.