1986 or 87 sway bar spacer thickness info needed

[Nederlandtercel]

I need to find out the thickness of the spacers (Toyota part 48817E now unavailable from them or it seems anywhere, shown on Toyota's 1987 4WD wagon section 48-03 front spring and shock absorber drawing). One goes on the right, one on the left of the car, on the sway bar, before the metal cup, rubber cushions and all the rest. My alignment is way off, I believe because the spacers are missing. Does anyone know the thickness or could you please measure it on your 87 (or 86 would likely do fine) I am using the 87 drawing as my 86 was the end of the model year and a few things had changed. I’m planning on using a stack of washers unless someone knows the spacers are really needed and has the parts or knows where I can get two of them cheap. If a copy of Toyota's drawing would help, I can e-mail it to you... the BB system doesn't let me post pdf's.
Thanks for your help!

[dlb]

welcome, nederland tercel. does that mean you are in CO? we have a few members there.

are you sure your 87 is missing those spacers? on each tercel sway bar i've seen, the spacer and front retainer (aka cup) are solidly rusted to the bar. i actually wouldn't even know they were separate from the bar if i hadn't looked at the diagram in the factory service manual. also of note is that the suspension did not change from '83-'88. (however, when buying parts from stores, you can avoid confusion by saying your car is an '86. this sounds weird but it's because in parts catalogues, '87 is listed as the start of the 3rd generation tercels, which were completely different.)

if both sides are in fact missing the spacer, i don't think it would cause much of an alignment issue since both would be equally incorrect. anyway, you could just use one thick or two thinner washers and you should be fine. i would then look at the toe in and camber of the front wheels for correcting the alignment. the toe in is easy to check and adjust at home, the camber is not. here's the thread on doing the toe in.

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2273

[Nederlandtercel]

Yes, I'm in Nederland CO, quite a nice place and handy to have such a nice car even if it has 290,000 miles and its fair share of rust. I was thinking of using a few washers (.4" comes to mind) to shim it out, nice to get confirmation. Is that about the thickness you recommend from the ones you've seen? I know the old spacer is not there.

[irowiki]

Did you have any problems with all the flooding last summer?

I'm in Farmington, NM but previously lived in Durango and the Montrose/Olathe/Delta CO area.

[Nederlandtercel]

Being high up in the mountains has its advantages. Some folks had problems especially with driveways, but no major damage in the Ned area. The water collects as it goes down the canyons so the folks in low lands had it worst. We just have to hope to be fire safe, a problem they don't have as much.