Front sway bar bushing R&R?

[wetminkey]

OK,...so what's the secret?!
About getting the two halves of the front, inner sway bay bushing mounts apart, to remove and replace the bushings?
Do I need to drill out (enlarge) the holes in the brackets? They seem to be pressed together,...
The Fiat shop manual makes no mention of any additional steps,...just unbolt the brackets.
Thanks, Todd.

[SteinOnkel]

Heat them up and bend them. They get real compressed after 30 odd years.

Pup the new bushings in and install. That's about what I recall doing last year. It was about a 10 minute holdup of debating how much BFI* to apply.

*brute force and ignorance

[dinghyguy]

I drilled out the flanged bit just enough to pull them apart. Installed the new bushings and then carefully reinstalled everything. Clean the threads on the studs, as many threads have reported those studs often break and then more fluent Italian will ensue.

If i can do it you can....

good luck
dinghyguy

[manoa matt]

What dinghyguy said. You have to be carefull putting it back, as you are trying to use the studs to pull the two bracket pieces together and compress the bushing around the bar. This method can strip the threads on the studs or break them off. One way around this is to loosely assemble everything to get the bushings in the right spot on the bar. Then take it off, and clamp the brackets in a vice or with clamps and tack weld the bracket flanges. Then put it back on the car.

Some guys will buy new brackets that when assembled can be re swaged together. I have a new set that are gold chromate plated if you are interested in them.

[wetminkey]

Except perhaps for a crossmember attached by unibody framerail studs (bolts clamped inside the rail!), that is one of the most stupid designs I have ever hear of,...! No offense to any Italians, in general, of course.
The Spider was designed prior to 1966,...ya would have thought that by 1979 they would have improved on these designs. Ah, well,...I still look forward to driving my Spider again!
My bar and brackets cleaned up nicely. My inner rubbers appear in good shape and are snug on the bar, so I'll simply paint the bar, replace the outer bushings, and reinstall.
Thanks!

[blazingspider]

Once you get the 2 halves apart and insert a new rubber bush, I align the 2 pieces, place it back up on to the studs and then I use a bottle jack to compress it all and hold it in place up against the cross member. Removes a lot of stress on the studs when tighetning the nuts.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Once you get the 2 halves apart and insert a new rubber bush, I align the 2 pieces, place it back up on to the studs and then I use a bottle jack to compress it all and hold it in place up against the cross member. Removes a lot of stress on the studs when tighetning the nuts.

That's a really good idea, and I'll keep that in mind next time I come across this situation. Thanks!

-Bryan

[wetminkey]

I must say that I really like that method! I'll use it, if you don't mind, blazingspider?! Thanks!
Todd.

[maxm50]

I just discovered that I'm one of the unlucky ones with a stripped out stud holding these brackets on. Anyone have tips on what to do to replace a stripped stud? Need to weld on a new stud? Or is there any way that that doesn't involve welding? (I don't have a welder in my garage...)

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Which stud? One of the ones on the "frame rail", or one on the lower A-arm?

Also, is it broken off or just stripped? If the latter, sometimes double nuts will hold it in place. If it's totally stripped, sometimes you can re-tap what's left for a slightly smaller nut, likely an SAE size. Not ideal, but it can work. The ideal would be to grind off the broken stud and weld in a new one, but you'd need a welder of course.

-Bryan

[SteinOnkel]

Which stud? One of the ones on the "frame rail", or one on the lower A-arm?

Also, is it broken off or just stripped? If the latter, sometimes double nuts will hold it in place. If it's totally stripped, sometimes you can re-tap what's left for a slightly smaller nut, likely an SAE size. Not ideal, but it can work. The ideal would be to grind off the broken stud and weld in a new one, but you'd need a welder of course.

-Bryan

Did you own my car at some point? Are you to blame for all this malarkey? Are ya, Bryan?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Ahhh, you caught me red-handed, Steiny! True story, but as I wrote that post above, I actually did think that you would likely respond.

As I mentioned, it's not an ideal solution, but if someone wants to try a cheap and quick solution like re-threading a stud to a different (but non-metric) size, I'm not going to stop them. On my '71, one of the 4 bolts on the exhaust manifold that connects to the downpipe was drilled out slightly and replaced with an SAE bolt. It came that way when I bought it, and the only solution I know of is to buy a new (used) exhaust manifold or put in a helicoil, and this costs almost as much as I paid for the car ($175). So there it sits with 3 metric bolts and 1 SAE bolt, happy as a clam since the late 1980s.

-Bryan

[maxm50]

It's unfortunately one of the studs in the frame rail. Not the control arm.

The double nut that's on there now holds it just fine, but I can't for the life of me remove the nut that's on the stripped section. It just spins and spins. Maybe I'll cut a notch in it and try to break it off. Or maybe pry the bushing carrier away from the frame rail while spinning the nut... maybe then it will catch back on to the remaining threads and come off the rest of the way. yeah, that's probably what I should do! I'll give that a shot and if it works, I'll replace that nut with a stack of washers or a standoff so it doesn't happen again when I replace the sway bar bushing again... which will probably be never. Such is life.

Anyway, thanks for the discussion, at least it triggered this idea... and if it doesn't work, I'll try the next-size-down trick!

Cheers,
Max

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Or maybe pry the bushing carrier away from the frame rail while spinning the nut... maybe then it will catch back on to the remaining threads and come off the rest of the way.

Max, sounds like you're on top of this: Put some pressure on the nut that's spinning on the stripped threads, get it off, and then you can figure out where to go from there.

-Bryan

[maxm50]

Just wanted to close out my experience here:
I was able to spin off the nut that was captured on the stripped section of the stud, thankfully! I used some prying with the bracket and then with a screwdriver to exert downward force, and carefully lefty-loosey'd it off.

Upon replacement with new bushings (after drilling out the old swaged brackets, what a hilarious and brutish endeavor...), I used the toolkit scissor jack to press the new bushings + brackets into place, then threaded on the nuts and tightened it up. For the stripped stud, I replaced the old two-nut method with 4 washers, a lock washer and a single nut. I did not need to re-thread the stud. Should be much easier to get off the next time, which I hope is never. It was an absolute bear to get the thing pressed tight enough to start the threads, but now it's thankfully done.

Thanks for your help Bryan!

Max