Front Anti-Roll Bar links. An update from March 2011

[dave_aber]

Back in March 2011 I replaced my ARB links and bushes, as mentioned in this thread.

The basic experiment started back then was to sheath the 4 ball joints on either end of the 2 links with large size heavy-duty bike inner tube sections and fill them with grease.

Now, back in 2011 when I did this, one of the nuts was obviously not nipped up tight enough, and the joint started to knock after about 100 miles. When I stripped off the inner tube to tighten it back up, I thought I'd leave it bare, as a comparison.

Now, 17 months later I have a wee knocking, so I thought I'd better have a look.

So, here's the findings:

1. The knock is down to a broken rear ARB bush bracket (It did sound rear-ish)
2. The joint I left exposed has a completely split cover. If it's not also knocking a wee bit, I'd be surprised.
3. The Heavy-duty inner tube sections are all still perfectly intact.

I have not opened up the other 3 yet, but I will do when I am working on the rear end.

[Northern Bongolow]

good test dave.

[rapiddescent]

Did you just zip tie the inner tube to the drop links? Got a photo?

[dave_aber]

Aye, just zip tied on. Click the link in my first post for a picture.

[dave_aber]

Just an update to this.

For the MOT, I re-attached the inner tube section which had been left off - no time to replace the link (and it wasn't knocking). The MOT man was quite impressed!

So, Initially fitted March 2011, and the lower o/s left for the most part un-covered.

March 2013 it started knocking.

I have just replaced the o/s link, and I can report that the upper joint was still like new although the grease had dried out a bit, and there was evidence that some water had got in (It's very tricky to seal the top of the inner tube on the upper joint). It was still stiff to move, nut undid with no drama, no need to get the angle grinder out. The n/s joint is still sealed in bike inner tubes and still not knocking.

The lower joint on the o/s link which had been exposed (i.e. Normal) for most of the 2 years had a completely split rubber (was split by Aug 2012), and the ball joint was slack. The nut did undo OK, but only once I was levering the joint at an angle to jam it with the top disconnected.

So my verdict - if you can find heavy duty rubber tubing of about 2" diameter, then it's worth a shot.

I used Michelin downhill racing inner tubes for mountain bikes. As there is a new 'niche' trend for fat bikes with huge tyres, big inner tubes are readily available.