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In a previous work [1], the fatigue behaviour of Al2024-T3 FSW overlap jointshas been studied. The fatigue strength of these joints is strongly affected by the presence, atthe overlap ends, of two crack-like unwelded zones. The stress intensity factor at the crack tiphas been determined using the Franc2d finite element (FE) code, and the lifetime has beenthen estimated by integrating the material propagation law with the AFgrow software.In this work the effect of an initial overload and of the presence of an antibending system onthe crack propagation rate and on the lifetime of the joints has been investigated.Experimental and numerical results show that lifetime of these joints can be stronglyincreased with respect to normal conditions.