Broken Front Sway Bar Mount (1 Viewer)

[surfpig]

Ordered the new mounts from Wit's End (thanks @NLXTACY) in case I prefer to run both sways.

It's supposed to rain hard later today and the truck is very muddy so I went to remove the sway bar so I could drive it and wash it off a bit and found another issue.

Just the rear bolt missing from the pass side control arm ... no big deal
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This seems like it would have been the cause of the sway bar retainer breaking off? A huge THANK YOU to @Pacer for seeing the rubbing on the exhaust and telling me to look for a larger problem. I'm sure he saved me from larger damage.

Anyone have the part # handy for that nut and bolt?

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CHECK YOUR NUTZ!



My Panhard bolts get loose kind of frequently so I go through and check stuff from time to time...

 

[surfpig]

All that and you didn’t truss it?
View attachment 1984543All

Are you going to weld it to that I beam too?

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

I stand corrected. “Almost” everything short of a new diamond axle housing.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Wow. Boxed steering stops! You must do sone hardcore steering!

 

[Box Rocket]

Wow. Boxed steering stops! You must do sone hardcore steering!

Not uncommon to bend the stock steering stops. Boxing is a good solution.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

They do bend and keeping the stops adjusted properly so that both side make contact at the same time puts less stress on the knuckle studs when one steering arm is not trying to break the other one loose.

 

[Box Rocket]

Ordered the new mounts from Wit's End (thanks @NLXTACY) in case I prefer to run both sways.

It's supposed to rain hard later today and the truck is very muddy so I went to remove the sway bar so I could drive it and wash it off a bit and found another issue.

Just the rear bolt missing from the pass side control arm ... no big deal
View attachment 1984468
View attachment 1984469

This seems like it would have been the cause of the sway bar retainer breaking off? A huge THANK YOU to @Pacer for seeing the rubbing on the exhaust and telling me to look for a larger problem. I'm sure he saved me from larger damage.

Anyone have the part # handy for that nut and bolt?

View attachment 1984468

View attachment 1984469

Holy Crap! is right! You can see how much the radius arm has been moving in the mount by where the bushing has been rubbing the bracket. Totally lucky it didn't go farther and drop out of the bracket. Could have been ugly.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

Is it an optical illusion or does the bolt hole in the mount look a little wallowed out?

 

[Box Rocket]

Is it an optical illusion or does the bolt hole in the mount look a little wallowed out?

Might be a little bit since the bolt was loose in there for a while before falling out, but I think it's more of an illusion because of the hole in the arm being offset in the hole.

 

[Tools R Us]

...
Just the rear bolt missing from the pass side control arm ...

Arm hardware torques to 130ft/lb. Only turn the side with the washer, never the side with the flange.

 

[Cass007]

I'm running the Superior Performance bushings and offset inserts recommended with the Dobinsons suspension. I really can't believe I missed this the first time I looked at things.

I'm not welder capable (yet), so I will get the parts in and make an appointment at the local 4WD place for asap to get the rear bolts swapped in the arms and look into the diff armor and having the steering stops boxed at the same time.

I don't think I can use the LCP sway quick disconnects because of the long travel suspension? At least I remember seeing a thread about that way back. I will get the axle secured for now and go wheeling w/o the front sway and see how it feels and make a decision from there.

Thanks to all for their help and input. My life isn't nearly as much fun when the truck isn't up and running.

@Devil's Slide Doug ... what diff armor is that?

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

I'm running the Superior Performance bushings and offset inserts recommended with the Dobinsons suspension. I really can't believe I missed this the first time I looked at things.

I'm not welder capable (yet), so I will get the parts in and make an appointment at the local 4WD place for asap to get the rear bolts swapped in the arms and look into the diff armor and having the steering stops boxed at the same time.

I don't think I can use the LCP sway quick disconnects because of the long travel suspension? At least I remember seeing a thread about that way back. I will get the axle secured for now and go wheeling w/o the front sway and see how it feels and make a decision from there.

Thanks to all for their help and input. My life isn't nearly as much fun when the truck isn't up and running.

@Devil's Slide Doug ... what diff armor is that?

Essentially, half a sewer pipe cap. All that work was done by Valley Hybrids (before I started welding). BTW, my sway bar quick release works perfectly well with j springs and a slee sway drop block.

 

[surfpig]

Essentially, half a sewer pipe cap. All that work was done by Valley Hybrids (before I started welding). BTW, my sway bar quick release works perfectly well with j springs and a slee sway drop block.

^ That's my setup as well as far as sway bars go. ^

 

[surfpig]

Ordered the new mounts from Wit's End (thanks @NLXTACY) in case I prefer to run both sways.

It's supposed to rain hard later today and the truck is very muddy so I went to remove the sway bar so I could drive it and wash it off a bit and found another issue.

Just the rear bolt missing from the pass side control arm ... no big deal
View attachment 1984468
View attachment 1984469

This seems like it would have been the cause of the sway bar retainer breaking off? A huge THANK YOU to @Pacer for seeing the rubbing on the exhaust and telling me to look for a larger problem. I'm sure he saved me from larger damage.

Anyone have the part # handy for that nut and bolt?

View attachment 1984468

View attachment 1984469

It's *possible* to bolt those new tabs onto the housing if you don't have the ability to weld them on, at least as a temporary solution (going on 3 years... ).

 

[Box Rocket]

I'm running the Superior Performance bushings and offset inserts recommended with the Dobinsons suspension. I really can't believe I missed this the first time I looked at things.

I'm not welder capable (yet), so I will get the parts in and make an appointment at the local 4WD place for asap to get the rear bolts swapped in the arms and look into the diff armor and having the steering stops boxed at the same time.

I don't think I can use the LCP sway quick disconnects because of the long travel suspension? At least I remember seeing a thread about that way back. I will get the axle secured for now and go wheeling w/o the front sway and see how it feels and make a decision from there.

Thanks to all for their help and input. My life isn't nearly as much fun when the truck isn't up and running.

@Devil's Slide Doug ... what diff armor is that?

The swaybar disconnects will work fine with your suspension. What you're running isn't too much different than the Slinky suspension I run and I have swaybar disconnects that work fine. Truth be told, it doesn't improve flex that much (approx 1" more travel) but will take the stress off the swaybar and brackets in high flex situations. It will also allow for a bit "free-er" movement of the front end. Not more travel but slightly smoother transition stuffing one side then the other. At least that's been my experience. Even though I have disconnects, the swaybar stays hooked up 99% of the time. In fact the last time I disconnected was because one of the bushings disintegrated and the swaybar was making noise so I pinned it up so it would stop making noise.

 

[Cass007]

Control arm bolt, frame side (90105-18006)
Control arm nut, frame side (90170-18007)

Washer 90201-19011 ... just for my future reference

 

[alia176]

For those of you with the broken pass side sway bar mounts, thank you lucky stars the brake line didn't get cut when the sway bar end let go! That really puts a damper on things when wheeling.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

For those of you with the broken pass side sway bar mounts, thank you lucky stars the brake line didn't get cut when the sway bar end let go! That really puts a damper on things when wheeling.

Vice grips

 

[wpy2080]

If your truck has any rust I can’t recommend enough beefing up (witts end are great) or taking off the sway bar for wheeling - aggressive overlanding. The three times I have EVER been broken down in the 80 were all results of sway bars and/or muffler brackets breaking and taking brake lines with them... Three times...

 

[Bambusiero]

Questions for you who have welded on the axle housing (and are comfortable doing it) -
What do you need to do to prepare for applying all that heat?
To keep gear oil from catching fire?
To avoid warping it out of alignment?
Anything else to be concerned about?