Trail Damage

[juane]

Toward the end of a very suspension-articulating trail this afternoon, at the top of steep descent, I heard a couple of clunks from the front end. "Hmm, what's that? I'll take a look at the bottom of the hill." Couple clunks later and suddenly the brake pedal is going to the floor. Holy crap, no brakes on this grade with a car full of kids? I instinctively grrrrrrrrrrind it into Park. Not a pleasant event, even at 5 miles an hour.
Clamber out and see a bunch of brake fluid dripping from the passenger side front. And a flopping sway bar end.
Ah, the sway bar to axle mount busted. After years of fighting bunches of suspension travel it gave up. Once loose the free end, being driven by the other, still attached side, took out a brake line. Not sure yet which one and where - hard or flex line.

Was able to drive home including about 15 miles of highway in a very cautious fashion with only the rear brakes.

So, what should I do differently? I installed Beowulf's handy aluminum sway bar extender blocks years ago when doing the OME medium lift. I've never disconnected the bar when off roading. I use to take whole bar out of the 60 when faced with a week at Moab and such.

What are people doing differently with 80 series sway bars these days?

Also, not sure what I'll need to fix the brake line yet, but it's got me wondering what one would do to effect a field repair. Rear brakes only on a 6000 pound rig is not fun.

juane

 

[TroutRunner]

I think Ali and Beno have a quick disconnect. The breakage resulting in taking out the brakes is all over the 80's section. Glad your OK.

G

 

[Cruisergreg]

So, what should I do differently?

Get a solid axle truck.

Edit: Oops...was multitasking sending replies on a couple different Mud forums at the same time. The other guy must have been really confused at the reply he got.

 

[juane]

Get a solid axle truck.

You mean like an 80?

 

[pappy]

You mean like an 80?

No, something like an early 4Runner.

 

[evanz80]

Wow, that's an "excting" story! I can think of lots of Colorado trails where an incident like that could be the last time you went wheeling.

I don't know what the answer is to fix the problem, but you can bet that I'll be watching for the replies on this one.

Glad you made it home OK!

 

[SteveLCetc]

A late first gen or a second gen is an easy one to SAS. The third gen, I have discovered, is a little more involved...

 

[alia176]

The solution is to simply disconnect the front sway bars or get a quick disconnect (QD). If you think you'll be going over some serious suspension twisters, simply disconnect the sway bar using a 14mm wrench then tie it out of the way. This is a common problem with our 80s due to fatigue of the welds in this area.

This goes for anyone who does this type of trail. Disconnect your front sway bar before hitting the trail so that you don't have to worry about this serious issue. A side benefit of doing this is that your front suspension will open up even more and you need to make sure that your brake lines are long enough to accommodate this. Anyone with a lift of 2.5" or over is basically driving a ticking time bomb when running the twisty trails. Its very easy to do and you don't really need a QD unless you're running the twisties frequently.

It's a very good idea to have replacements soft brake lines that go from the axle to the front calipers. This is a very inexpensive NAPA part.

Some people simply toss the sway bars but I'd suggest going the route of QD's or disconnecting as needed. I don't like how the vehicle handles fully loaded on windy roads w/o sway bars or during evasive maneuvers.

 

[juane]

Good info there, thanks Ali.

The sway bar axle mount is surprisingly flimsy. I'm going to weld in some nice beefy channel stock as a replacement.

What are people using for quick disconnects? A pin in lieu of the bolt with a cotter key or some such?

 

[Beowulf]

I'm going to weld in some nice beefy channel stock as a replacement.

Check with Landtank. I believe he has some HD brackets for front and rear of the 80-Series. I bought them a couple of years ago but haven't installed them. It might be time before something breaks.

-Mike-

 

[alia176]

Good info there, thanks Ali.

The sway bar axle mount is surprisingly flimsy. I'm going to weld in some nice beefy channel stock as a replacement.

What are people using for quick disconnects? A pin in lieu of the bolt with a cotter key or some such?

Search on the 80 section for QD ideas. Lots of cools ideas over there. I used to use a 3/8" lynch pin.

 

[evanz80]

The solution is to simply disconnect the front sway bars or get a quick disconnect (QD).

This goes for anyone who does this type of trail. Disconnect your front sway bar...

Ash - Is it not an issue with the rear sway bar? You had only mentioned the front.

 

[alia176]

Ash - Is it not an issue with the rear sway bar? You had only mentioned the front.

Interestingly enough, the rear sway bar doesn't seem to do this or I haven't heard of this happening. My guess is that the diam of the rear sway is smaller, therefore, more "flexy" than the front.