67 Fury, drilling out sway bar-frame brackets

[edbods]

Unlikely that I'm going to be able to get a set of PST brackets as they appear to be no longer in production, so have settled for trying to improve the OE brackets to make them serviceable. The bushing kit I got off rockauto, K7061:

has two nuts and bolts for what I can only assume is meant for the somewhat common mod of drilling out the welds in these brackets to make them serviceable...but where do you actually drill out? Just the center of one face, or two faces like below?

 

[MONC440]

I'm watching this one as I have to do this in the near future.

Are you also changing the bushing at the strut rod?

 

[Big_John]

Unlikely that I'm going to be able to get a set of PST brackets as they appear to be no longer in production, so have settled for trying to improve the OE brackets to make them serviceable. The bushing kit I got off rockauto, K7061:
View attachment 714645has two nuts and bolts for what I can only assume is meant for the somewhat common mod of drilling out the welds in these brackets to make them serviceable...but where do you actually drill out? Just the center of one face, or two faces like below?
View attachment 714646

The idea is to drill through the spot weld holding it together.

That said, there was this thread and some mention of putting it back together without splitting it apart. Replacing the Sway Bar Bushings

 

[MoPar~Man]

I had my bar completely off, but with those hangers still on. I bought the kit from rock, but left them in the box. The originals seemed tight enough so I buffed the entire bar and the hangers (rod + bracket) and painted them with DOM-16. The sway bar (and the torsion bars) were the only parts that I didn't have powder coated. Everything, and I mean everything else including the stub was powder coated.

I think you should focus on the lower control arm bushings if you're looking for the source of a knock or you want to tighten up the front end. That and the upper/lower ball joints. I think these sway bar hanger bushings are at the bottom of the list. Yes the strut rod sway bar bushings are easy to do and you might get some satisfaction from that.

 

[Rainy Day]

When I replaced mine I did not split the hangers apart, I drove them off the bar with a pickle fork and hammer sideways and slid the new bushings over the square end 1st then knocked the bushing and hangers back together. Just use a block of wood to hold the bushing still while you tap the hangers into the bushing.

 

[mgm1986]

Following, I have my sway bar on the bench asking the exact same question

 

[edbods]

I'm watching this one as I have to do this in the near future.

Are you also changing the bushing at the strut rod?

eeyup. i'm replacing all rubber suspension bits minus the big bump stops on the stub frame because those were the only ones that were in good nick.

The idea is to drill through the spot weld holding it together.

That said, there was this thread and some mention of putting it back together without splitting it apart. Replacing the Sway Bar Bushings

I did see that. I've decided it's not worth the effort to try to push the bracket and bushing off the bar, I do want to make it easier to service in the future.

I had my bar completely off, but with those hangers still on. I bought the kit from rock, but left them in the box. The originals seemed tight enough so I buffed the entire bar and the hangers (rod + bracket) and painted them with DOM-16. The sway bar (and the torsion bars) were the only parts that I didn't have powder coated. Everything, and I mean everything else including the stub was powder coated.

I think you should focus on the lower control arm bushings if you're looking for the source of a knock or you want to tighten up the front end. That and the upper/lower ball joints. I think these sway bar hanger bushings are at the bottom of the list. Yes the strut rod sway bar bushings are easy to do and you might get some satisfaction from that.

Mine are mostly ok but I can see minor cracking. Plus I've already sorta sliced into one with a box cutter in an attempt to get it off. Not chasing any knocks at all, I'm just refurbishing all the suspension rubbers. I've got the kit for the sway bar bushings so might as well tackle that while I'm at it. Strut rod-sway bar bushings are indeed very easy, my only gripe is that the replacements sold on rockauto don't seem to have the extra tab of rubber that goes in the gap between the strut rod and sway bar. Probably won't make much difference though.

In any case, I'm going to take my sway bar to work, they've got a nice big bench drill so it'll be easier to see where exactly I need to drill, and whether I have to drill two holes per bracket or just one.

 

[volksworld]

you'll need to drill 2 unless you hate yourself and want to try to pry the bracket open and beat it back together...the kit only comes with 2 bolts cause technically it's a set of bushings for an aftermarket 2 piece bracket...

 

[edbods]

Ahhhhhhh that's why. Thank goodness that I can easily get some extra nuts and bolts then.

 

[edbods]

Well POO. I tried to drill out what I thought were the spot welds with a 10mm drill bit. Drill press made short work of it...but it's still stuck together tight. I had to slice out one flange of the bushing then force it out with a hammer and a flathead screwdriver, allowing me to at least take the brackets off the bar.
The issue seems to be that the spot welds are at least 12-14mm in diameter, but using a drill bit that big doesn't leave much meat to actually clamp down with a nut and bolt.
I've left the brackets with the guys in the workshop to see if they can figure out a way to split it apart. More updates to come tomorrow...

 

[edbods]

Update: WOOHOO. Workshop buddies used a very thin cold chisel to split apart the rest of the spot welds. Apparently put up a fight though, "wasn't easy" was what I was told so I owe them beer and food.

 

[edbods]

Pic of the final result:

I don't know if these can be cold chiselled out without having to drill out the weld, but if they can that would be the preferable route - whoever welded these particular brackets together didn't really align them, so the hole I drilled out in the separated bit is pretty close to the edge.

 

[edbods]

On a related note, the bushings for the bracket that connects the sway bar to the strut rod - if you buy aftermarket ones there's a good chance they don't have a slit in them, and unless you can fab up some sort of sleeve, it's damn near impossible to push them on without seriously damaging them. Just use a box cutter and slit it straight down, rocking the cutter up and down like a bumper jack seems to work really well. Then use a flathead screwdriver to pry it open and slip it onto the bar.