Interesting RB endlink failure
 

So I did an HPDE last weekend at Sebring, car handled great, drove great no issues.

2 days ago, I heard a really bad clunk from the driver's side suspension, and felt something hit the floor of the car. Thought maybe I hit a rock or something on the road, I stopped and checked it out as best I could and didn't notice anything. No adverse handling effects at all.

This morning I was just doing some standard tinkering looking over everything and double checking my pad wear.

I found this:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1345913621

So from this it looks like maybe the endlink was overtightened? Caused the middle support to break? Anyone have thoughts on how this could happen? I'm going to call around on Monday to see if someone can just sell me one, instead of a replacement set, the other side is fine.

If you have to replace the whole set, I would recommend you go with 949's endlinks.

If that is a Racing Beat endlink it probably broke from binding.

How do you mean? It just got crossthreaded or something?

No like the poly links bound up and put all the bending force into the middle section that should have just been taken as rotation in the joints on the.

Got it. That is most likely what happened when I look at it closer. It also sucks haha. If I can't get RB to send me just one, I'm buying the 949 endlinks for sure, should have just done that to begin with, I didn't realize there could be issues with the poly bushings.

Your options: Buy a pair from RB and keep one as a spare. You'll never need it. OR go to a lot of trouble to just buy one and then the other, previously non-broken link will break within months. :)

Seriously though, RB endlinks are great and awesome and my favorite ever. On the street. For track duty, they're not that robust.

He already broke a set of RB links. If you must have poly the racelands look a bit better than the RB since they are properly adjustable.

The only good reason to use poly bushings on sway bar endlinks is if they are required by your sanctioning body's rules. This is the race forum after all.

RB wouldn't sell me just one endlink, so I'm replacing that crap with 949 endlinks. Banging my head, totally should have bought these in the first place.

Except the narrower section built into the Raceland's center turbuckle studs that the RB's don't have. My educated guess is the Raceland's are weaker than the RB's in that particular area, not stronger.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1346111230
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1346111230

But they are adjustable, so you can make them less likely to bind up. Still nowhere near as good as the 949 ones.

949 endlinks or die. They are the only ones that properly address the angle of the front bar.

NB OEM is not bad either (and you only need one of them to be adjustable CW-vise).
Going from Non-binding NB OEM (it's a NB LCA in the OP picture) to those RB ones :facepalm:

Never seen NB ones, but to install a RB endlink in the stiff hole as seen above is the devil's work. I'm surprised mine haven't failed yet, but when they do, I'm sourcing 949 endlinks as a replacement.

I've got a pair from Gearheads Garage that have held up to years of abuse. They also used misalignment spacers on the lower joint. They just used a ball joint at the top.

Well, they arent a sponsor, so fuck um.

Point taken.

I never knew how much my bushing type end links were binding until I replaced them with 949's. It was night and day. My suspension moved so much more freely, it was compressing more and I suddenly had tire rub on my shock towers while braking!

I hope that doesn't happen to me! I'm cutting it pretty close on clearance already, need to roll my fenders soon...

They've been shipped, I hope they get here before Saturday.

Just got the 949 endlinks in, they look fantastic! Can't wait to get them installed.

Stupid question: should I get the car re-aligned after they are installed? I didn't think that the endlink would affect any of the castor/camber or toe adjustments, but I'm not 100% sure on that...

Shouldnt need to re-align it. Dont forget to sit in the car and have someone adjust the end link lengths until you can turn the middle section easily with your fingers, then tighten the locking nuts down.

Thanks! Its also best to do that on ramps with the wheels/tires on right?

Its best to do it on flat ground with the wheels and tires on.

My car sits too low for that, you won't be able to access the endlinks with it on the ground...

Wow I thought I was low at 11.75/12.0 and that it was kind of hard to reach back there with the 9" wide wheels.

Ha, so you are telling me to man up. I'll see what I can do.

El-chepo setup rig can be "made" using four cinder blocks.
Used for alignments and all other work when the suspensions needs to be loaded.

Ramps, cinder blocks, jackstands under the lower a-arms, a large number of deceased kittens bound together with a hay bailer... anything to get the car level with the weight on the suspension.

Thanks for the tips guys! Got the endlinks installed and adjusted, and so far so good!

AWR Racing end links
 

Here's a picture of the older-style AWR Racing end links. The new style has anodized black centers that are slightly smaller in diameter, and include o-rings at the heim joints to keep the end links quiet. These center sections won't break.