Well, I thought this would be a simple remove and replace kinda job on my 14’ Limited. It turned out to be a mini nightmare but I managed to come out alive.
I started with removing the skid plate, always a pain in the butt. Got both endlink bolts off. Started working on the 4 bolts holding the sway bar bushing brackets to the frame, two bolts on each side. I noticed they were a bit rusty and wouldn’t come off easily, so I started spraying them with PB Blaster and loosening and tightening the bolts with my impact gun. These are bigger bolts and unlike the rear sway bar bolts (I broke one of those off when I did my rear sway bar) I didn’t think these would break. Well they didn’t, but the damn nut inside the frame did…..actually the tack welded spots that held the nut inside the frame broke. Oh I was so pissed! Got the other 3 bolts out ok and luckily, the broken one was at the open end part of the bracket and I was able to slip the bracket off and remove the whole sway bar.
I used my cutoff wheel and cut off the bolt.
I had a bolt/nut in my box of random bolts that would work to secure the bracket but decided I will go to Napa the next morning and get the right sized bolt/nut and lock washers.
There are two openings in the frame on the side that would allow me to access the hole where the bolt would go. My thoughts were to drop a new bolt inside the frame and through the hole with a lock washer and use a nut on the outside to secure the sway bar. It should be easier than trying to get a lock washer and nut in the frame and line it up.
The more I thought about it though, I was uncertain if the lock washers would prevent the bolt from spinning when tightening it and there was no way to get a wrench or socket in there to hold it. I thought maybe somehow I could JB Weld the bolt in place but that started to sound messy the more I thought about it. While I was at Napa I had a revelation to just actually weld the bolt in place with my fairly new flux core welder!
Everything went well. My flux core welder did a great job of putting 2 nice tack welds on the bolt and frame. I replaced the end links and sway bars bushings with new ones from Rockauto. I lubed up the bushings and brackets with white lithium grease and replaced the sway bar. I don’t know what I would have done without the welder. I don’t know how spraying these bolts ahead of time would have helped. It’s hard to even get to the threaded parts of them so you’re just spraying the bolt heads. One thing I did realize is this new sway bar is about 11lbs heavier than the stock bar……..definitely more dense.
I started with removing the skid plate, always a pain in the butt. Got both endlink bolts off. Started working on the 4 bolts holding the sway bar bushing brackets to the frame, two bolts on each side. I noticed they were a bit rusty and wouldn’t come off easily, so I started spraying them with PB Blaster and loosening and tightening the bolts with my impact gun. These are bigger bolts and unlike the rear sway bar bolts (I broke one of those off when I did my rear sway bar) I didn’t think these would break. Well they didn’t, but the damn nut inside the frame did…..actually the tack welded spots that held the nut inside the frame broke. Oh I was so pissed! Got the other 3 bolts out ok and luckily, the broken one was at the open end part of the bracket and I was able to slip the bracket off and remove the whole sway bar.
I used my cutoff wheel and cut off the bolt.
I had a bolt/nut in my box of random bolts that would work to secure the bracket but decided I will go to Napa the next morning and get the right sized bolt/nut and lock washers.
There are two openings in the frame on the side that would allow me to access the hole where the bolt would go. My thoughts were to drop a new bolt inside the frame and through the hole with a lock washer and use a nut on the outside to secure the sway bar. It should be easier than trying to get a lock washer and nut in the frame and line it up.
The more I thought about it though, I was uncertain if the lock washers would prevent the bolt from spinning when tightening it and there was no way to get a wrench or socket in there to hold it. I thought maybe somehow I could JB Weld the bolt in place but that started to sound messy the more I thought about it. While I was at Napa I had a revelation to just actually weld the bolt in place with my fairly new flux core welder!
Everything went well. My flux core welder did a great job of putting 2 nice tack welds on the bolt and frame. I replaced the end links and sway bars bushings with new ones from Rockauto. I lubed up the bushings and brackets with white lithium grease and replaced the sway bar. I don’t know what I would have done without the welder. I don’t know how spraying these bolts ahead of time would have helped. It’s hard to even get to the threaded parts of them so you’re just spraying the bolt heads. One thing I did realize is this new sway bar is about 11lbs heavier than the stock bar……..definitely more dense.
