Front Stabilizer Bar End Link Torque?

Dumb question from a knuckle(head) buster...

Has no one else experienced this?

While Upgrading my suspension, OEM to Eibach Pro Stage 2R, I accidentally damaged a grease boot on my driver's side front sway bar end link; grease came oozing out;I think most all of it. My dealer wants like $140 for a replacement. So, I ended up going aftermarket. I purchased two end links, one left and one right. And then, why not?, a TRD sway bar.

For the end links, I'm having trouble getting the ball end torqued to 111 ft. lbs. Toyota specs. I'm not sure what to call the threaded rod portion, a ball-pin? Put the ball-pin through the hole in the end of the sway bar, thread on a flange nut, and torque it down. Easier said, for me anyway, than done. When I start tightening the flange nut the entire ball-pin turns.

Both the OEM end links and the aftermarket ones have a 6mm hex socket in the end of the ball-pin. Okay, I can use a hex key to hold the ball-pin and keep it from turning, but then how do I get a 19mm torque wrench socket on the nut? So, I tried using a 19mm ratchet-end wrench, with a cheater bar, to try and at least get close to what I think is 111 ft. lbs. Maybe it was the quality of the aftermarket end-link, but the 6mm hex socket rounded-out before I got much torque on the nut at all. Examining an OEM end link, it has a round plate that goes against the sway bar end on the opposite side of the hole from the flange nut. This plate seems to be pressed on. I can imagine trying to hold this plate with some vice grips while torquing the nut, and that concerns me. What if the vice grips slip off and tears into the grease boot? Go buy another end link? The issue with my aftermarket links is, this plate is not pressed on, it is kind of a threaded washer. While it is not round like the OEM plate, it does have flats that I can put a crescent wrench on, it's still threaded onto the ball-pin, so as I turn the nut on one side, which causes the ball-pin to turn, this plate loosens on the opposite side. Should I just try to keep going tightening, hoping that eventually the threaded plate, sway bar end, and flange nut will lock-up like what happens when two nuts are threaded onto one rod and lock each other together?

How does one achieve 111 ft. lbs. of torque on the flange nut?

PS: I have seen that a few aftermarket end links come with nyloc style locking flange nuts. They are marketed as being "easier to install." Is such a viable alternative to achieving 111 ft. lbs.?

 

Can your torque wrench measure in reverse/counter clockwise? Put an allen key in the the torque wrench and go backwards, holding the nut still.

 

Yes, my 1/2" drive is dual-direction. Brilliant! I will still need to buy higher quality end links, 'cause the hex socket rounded out on one of the Detroit Axle links I got. Any suggestions, other than OEM?

 

I used moog, about $30/link
K750179

$39 K750180 Suspension Stabilizer Bar Link for Toyota Tundra

K750180

$19 K201414 Suspension Stabilizer Bar Bushing Kit for Toyota Tundra

K201414 (bushings for the frame brackets)

 

I got the Detroit Axle ones on Amazon. They came as a set for $32, left and right, and the part numbers are the same as the Moog ones. Pictures on Amazon look exactly the same too, between DA and Moog. The set came with bolts for the LCAs, which I didn't need, as well as four nuts. All four have messed up threads, and are unusable. Then, the hex socket rounded-out on one; I didn't try an allen key on the other. I may try this brand now

$50 Mevotech TTX Suspension Stabilizer Link Kit TXMS86822

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08574B15F Or, I may cry once and get these I just found https://jomaxcustoms.com/jomax-buy-now/toyota-trd-pro-sway-bar-end-link-kit Those would certainly resolve any torquing on a ball-pin issues.

I got the same bushings you recommended, too. They worked great.

I remain curious what others have done? I've watched several YT videos where torque specs were mentioned, but not one where the provider films actually doing it. Was torquing the hex socket counter clockwise only a mystery to me?