my fabricated sway bar drop brackets (1 Viewer)

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thought i'd share a couple pics of my sway bar drop brackets i fabricated with the help of a friend.

it's box steel pretty close to 2"x2" cut to length and drilled. i traced the plate and bracket on a piece of paper and used them as templates and took some measurements. painted them black and went to the hardware store and bought some new 70mm length bolts and some lock washers.

what do you think?

:beer:
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Looks good, but my bet is that they twist, bend, or mash using that thin wall tubing. I did pretty much the same thing you did but using (overkill) 1/4" wall tubing. I only went that thick because they didn't have .120 wall unless I bought 10' of the stuff.

Good news is if you bend one, they are simple and cheap to replace.

Nice work.
 
I agree that they will twist because of the thinness of the material used. I have different mounts being an earlier model. I have had the rubber bushes on the link pins pull through the bracket and have had to repair and strenghten the bracket were it mounts to the chassis as it had flexed to the point where it had broken. It seems that there is a lot of stress and strain put on the brackets after a lift. So any addition to the brackets would need to made from rather robust to last.
 
i think they are nice and i say keep em' until they mash. Then replace them with something stronger.

I'm seriously taking a new approach on my cruiser....if it aint broken, don't touch it until it breaks!
 
thanks for the input guys.... i honestly feel they are pretty stout. i don't know the gauge exactly but i wouldn't say they are thin at all. they are heavy box steel. but like Trinny said.... they are cheap, so if they twist or whatever i'll do 'em again with someting thicker. untill then i'll keep them.

i thought i'd share the idea for anyone needing some drop brackets and wants to save a few bucks by making their own.
 
the only issue I see with it is the tubing might begin to collapse which would loosen the bolts and they might fall out. I'd look into some round tubing that could be cut to fit inside the square stock so you could really torque down those bolts and not have it collapse.
 
the only issue I see with it is the tubing might begin to collapse which would loosen the bolts and they might fall out. I'd look into some round tubing that could be cut to fit inside the square stock so you could really torque down those bolts and not have it collapse.

This is a good idea!! I would look into it. Nice work!!
 
go with the 1/4 inch stuff. i just had mine on the rack today re-doing the passenger side caster bushings and pulling the front drive shaft to replace the u-joints in hope of getting rid of a mild grrr noise i'm now getting with J springs in the front.... long story short, i over tightened the drop bracket bolts with an air gun and the tubing bent a little. :(
 
When you cut the tube, leave a 2" tab on each end, bend it over the end and weld it up (boxing the ends) it should be plenty strong then, and it will keep dirt out.
 
Leroy... what size of lift do you have?
 
When you cut the tube, leave a 2" tab on each end, bend it over the end and weld it up (boxing the ends) it should be plenty strong then, and it will keep dirt out.

I was thinking the same thing. If you box the ends you should be good and it would look pretty neat also.....

Do they sell 2"x2" blocks of aluminum... You can just drill to holes in????
 
My guess is they would be plenty strong if you use a short bolt at the top and bolt/nut on the lower. This is how I do bump stop drop brackets.
 
My guess is they would be plenty strong if you use a short bolt at the top and bolt/nut on the lower. This is how I do bump stop drop brackets.

X2

Engineering 101: It is the total cross sectional area that is important in determining the tensile strength and although the tube has a thinner wall than the tubular part of the bracket, it is much larger and therefore is not the weak link in the assembly.
 

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