Broken sway bar bushing bracket bolt. Advice solicitation (1 Viewer)

[hunnits]

Bit off more than I could chew, and need to solicit some advice...

Attempting to replace sway arm bushings, and broke off one of the bracket bolts. I (mostly) drilled it out, and tried to extract to no avail. Wondering what my options are at this point. Either drill it out all of the way and retap to a larger diameter? (I believe it is a M8, so up to a M9). Take it to a shop and have some bolt extraction guru take it out. Or just run the bracket with a single bolt.

Again, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
2000 LC. Located in Front Range CO.

 

[SteveH]

Looks like you have drilled it quite deep so far. I would over drill and carefully tap and move up a bolt size. If you're not familiar with how to use a tap, read up on it. Works great if you follow the rules (not so great if you snap off the tap in the hole...)

 

[kevgentile]

If you can't get it tapped to the M8x1.25 then I would drill it out, run a longer bolt, and nut it from the back side.
You can drill a hole large enough to fit a 12mm or 13mm socket to capture the nut if it doesn't grab.

 

[ga12r1]

Just don't run the anti-sway bar

 

[T4R2TLC]

Is this the mount on driver rear, the bolt towards the front of the truck?

If you can't get it tapped to the M8x1.25 then I would drill it out, run a longer bolt, and nut it from the back side.

This is what I did when the other bolt on the same mount broke. My steps below in case it can be replicated:

I can't tell if your drill bit has gotten all the way through the top of the threads, but if not keep going. Then step up to a slightly larger bit if needed, the goal here is try to make sure the walls of the broken bolt are pretty thin. Then you can take a screwdriver or cold chisel and feed it through the hole into the bracket from the center of the truck (entering from the passenger side) and use a hammer to break of the existing bolt.

From there, stick a new nut to your finger using glue, double sided tape, or grease, and snake it in from the same hole facing passenger side to align with the old weld but and thread in the bolt.

The access is very poor on this mount in particular, but it's possible to get the old bolt out of the way and snake a new nut in there!

 

[badlander]

Another option is a nutsert.....

 

[hunnits]

Is this the mount on driver rear, the bolt towards the front of the truck?


This is what I did when the other bolt on the same mount broke. My steps below in case it can be replicated:

I can't tell if your drill bit has gotten all the way through the top of the threads, but if not keep going. Then step up to a slightly larger bit if needed, the goal here is try to make sure the walls of the broken bolt are pretty thin. Then you can take a screwdriver or cold chisel and feed it through the hole into the bracket from the center of the truck (entering from the passenger side) and use a hammer to break of the existing bolt.

From there, stick a new nut to your finger using glue, double sided tape, or grease, and snake it in from the same hole facing passenger side to align with the old weld but and thread in the bolt.

The access is very poor on this mount in particular, but it's possible to get the old bolt out of the way and snake a new nut in there!

Driver side rear. I have not been able to drill all the way through just yet. Hoping to get through it later tonight or tomorrow. Thank you for the feedback

 

[BiotechBoy]

Bit off more than I could chew, and need to solicit some advice...

Attempting to replace sway arm bushings, and broke off one of the bracket bolts. I (mostly) drilled it out, and tried to extract to no avail. Wondering what my options are at this point. Either drill it out all of the way and retap to a larger diameter? (I believe it is a M8, so up to a M9). Take it to a shop and have some bolt extraction guru take it out. Or just run the bracket with a single bolt.

Again, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
2000 LC. Located in Front Range CO.

View attachment 3634093

I had this exact same problem and wasnt able to Tap the hole because there wasnt enough steel left for a deep enough thread pocket. But I was able to successfully use a Dorman Rivnut - with a simple tool that comes with it for $10. Dorman Part #963-266D (Pic #1). Simply drill the hole out a little larger (Pic #2), place the rivnut into the hole with the tool (pic #3), turn the bolt on the tool to crimp the rivet down (pic #4), and insert the bolt with the bushings bracket (pic #5)! These things work amazingly well and so glad i discovered them.

 

[delz05]

Holy mess! That bracket is screaming for a needle gun intervention! Knock that corrosion off and clean up the underside!

 

[BiotechBoy]

Holy mess! That bracket is screaming for a needle gun intervention! Knock that corrosion off and clean up the underside!

Ha. Yes 23 years in Vermont winters will do that. I took these pics before I replaced the swaybar bushings bracket with a new OEM one from Toyota. But for the rest of the rig, I had never heard of a needle gun until you mentioned it. Now that I looked it up, looks like a real cool toy. I'm definitely getting one right now. Thanks.