ARB Collars - Necessary?

[Lewis's Friend]

Hi all, a quick question...

I am just getting my ARB powder coated, and to do this I needed to remove the two collars on it that seem to locate it against the ARB mounts.

My question is, what do these actually do? Are they just to keep the ARB located symmetrically? Are they only useful during install or do they perform another function in normal operation?

I'm just wondering how much effort I should put in to replacing them on mine.

Thanks

[tapkaJohnD]

Pictures, pictures!

[GreenV8S]

If there is nothing else preventing the ARB from moving sideways, and the geometry of the drop links doesn't keep it centered, then the collars would be necessary to keep the ARB in position. I wouldn't expect them to be fitted if they weren't necessary.

[Lewis's Friend]

Pictures are a good point...

20200709_160817 by Jon Fellows, on Flickr

And

20200709_160641 by Jon Fellows, on Flickr

[Lewis's Friend]

The collars were pretty much toast, but easy enough to replace - I just wanted to understand their purpose as my Mx5 didn't have anything like that on it.

[Kawasicki]

They are there to keep the ARB in position.

In the perfect world you shouldn't need them. In the real world the ARB is probably subject to some axial loads and it will potentially drift left or right when you drive the car, maybe causing suspension linkages to clash/jam together.

[mat205125]

The bar will do a lot of knocking and clunking about without them

They are critical to holding the bar securely for the suspension to lever it against

Cut em off, tidy the bar, and refit with two piece poly bushes

[Lewis's Friend]

Cheers for the feedback. I have sent the order cups away to be refurbed with all the other bits in having powder coated. However, you can buy after market collars, though I'm not sure if you can in a size I'd need. That'll have to wait until I get the ARB back to measure. That would be an easy solution though, even if it does have a bit of a JDM tuner vibe than a Jag....!