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Greetings,
After lots of searching I have not seem a good solution for getting the front sway bar brackets back into crossmember. Any advice would be appreciated. Same thing on both sides. Thanks, Doug alignment issues
Only way mine go in is to undo them ompletely at the A-arm. Then loosely fit the rear brackets, tighten and then get the belly pan on. Only then tackle the brackets at the A-arms. Trick is to expand the A-arms to their maximum outward position which is when they are parallel to the floor. Instal one bracket loosely well lubrcated with gasoline not grease and put the wheel back on. Put your jack under the outer part of the A-arm on the other side, lift, remove your jack stands, and then slowly lower the car until the A-arms are parallel to the ground. Depending on your suspension ride height, you may need someone to sit on the front bumper to achieve this. You should be able to instal the other bracket with some pushing and shoving. Remember to go back and re-tighten the bracket on the other side.
hope this helps.
Cheers,
^^ Oh I now I get what you're saying. I've done it with the connections made at the a-arm already, but it's always a chore.
Bolting the brackets back into the crossmember and body is just a pain in the ***. You're fighting the spring loading of the bushing, the bracket and the sway bar all at once. You need to get the bracket to crossmember bolt on but loose, and the inner bushing clamp to bracket bolt connected and loose as well, then connect the outer bushing clamp to bracket to body bolt in place--I've had some luck using locking pliers to squeeze the bracket and bushing so that the bolt will line up. Do this without the pan first just to get everything in position, tighten it up and then back the outer bolt (the one that holds the pan) out. Put the pan up and re-bolt--you can reach in and tighten that inner bracket bolt with an open end wrench.
It sucks and it's the worst part of disassembling the front end, but it's doable with enough sweat and swears.
It helps to keep the bushings at the a-arms greased too, hand soap works brilliantly and won't damage the rubber.
I just went through this, with the car on my lift and the suspension hanging, l lowered the lift and used 2 jack to lift and rotate both sides ofvthe sway bar into place with the new bushings and brackets on the bar, the rear Allen head bolts loosely attached and the front nuts on the bracket to the cross member. Jacking the bar rotates it up and allows attachment on the center bracket bolts. I then tightened up all the hardware removed the jacksbfrom the bar and left it for 24 hours, then removed the outer bolts and nuts everything stayed in place and installed the splash guard. Torqued all the hardware done!
The underside of your car is very clean! I stripped the nut on the bracket at the crossmember so ordering a new bracket and nut. One question where exactly did you place your jacks?
We have all done our share of stripping! On the assumption that you have the usual jacks with the U-shaped indentation (and hopefully nylon/plastic protectors) you can put them right on the cover for the front of the A-arms giving you lots of space to work.
The underside of your car is very clean! I stripped the nut on the bracket at the crossmember so ordering a new bracket and nut. One question where exactly did you place your jacks?
stripped nut
Thanks for the compliment on my car, deep cleaning not doable without a lift.
I placed the jacks with a hockey puck to pletect the finish on the sway bar where it curves out to the a arm.
It is all back together. The jack stand trick didn't work for me. I loosely attached the nut and the bracket bolt thenI used two pairs of vice grips to align the center bolt. Once everything was started tighten all the bolts and left it for 24 hours. I removed the nuts and rear bolts and was able to reinstall the stone guard. Everything is nice and tight. I appreciate the help!
10-28-2018, 01:45 PM
87 front sway bar bracket
