1987 TDT keeps breaking sway bar brackets
 

I will try again, Hi, I have a 1987 300TDT W124.193 that is about driving me nuts.
I cannot seem to keep sway bar brackets on the thing.
I have had the brackets break....well let me see, five times by now.
I have replaced them with "new" updated brackets, still break.
I have tried installing jacked up with wheels off the ground and sitting on the ground with weight on the car.
They are not to tight as the bar will spin inside the rubber bushings which are also new.
I have even put new coils in the car and still today the bracket breaks again.
I cannot figure it out, their is no reason for this I can see.
Anyone ever hear of this before?

Can you post a picture of the broken bracket(s)?




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I suppose, but they break where the c clamp bolts to the bracket over the sway bar. It is almost like they are being torn apart from downward pressure

Is this a continuation of this problem?

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/267816-sway-bar-troubles.html

Charlie

Yes it is, That was before I installed new "updated" brackets. So now I am even more puzzled as I thought that was it.

One of The brackets on my TD pulled off at one of the bolt holes. Being a cheapskate I just used the mig to repair it by welding a washer on to the C clamp. It has been bounced over some very rough tracks since then & not broken again.
Is it the side that is on the road edge side (right hand for you)?

My passenger side bracket broke about six months ago. We had an extremely short steep driveway at the time. I used to get going fast enough to coast up it, so I just assumed that was why it broke. There was a downhill slope before the driveway so when the car first started up, it twisted the front end. I guess I'll take a look at the new one and see how it is holding up. We have a nice flat driveway now so I suspect they are both fine.

The last time I was in Nova Scotia it was flat. Do you have an unusually steep driveway or live on a dirt road with huge pot holes?

Have you replaced the rubber bushings on the sway bar?

I live in the Valley, nice and flat. Good driveway. I have replaced the bushings and that is actually when it all started. I have had both sides break at different times. This time it was the passenger. Most times it is the passenger side but I believe the drivers has broke once out of the four or five times. Before I replaced the brackets I did weld them up and re-enforced them with a piece of steel and it still broke.

Is there anyway the you could double bracket them? IE put one on top and bolt them together? or well they not sit together nice and tight?

Just a thought.

Charlie

Probably not work as they are not meant to fit together. But there must be a reason they break.

Can you take some pictures of your front end from underneath? I'm wondering if something is different with your car. I still have my belly pans off from a recent transmission fluid change. I'll take a look under mine when I put the pans back on.

Have you tried putting a bit of grease on the bar before installing the bush ? the rubber may be grabbing on the bar.

could the orientation of the sway bar be an issue? like left-to-right mounting? i have not really looked at my sway bar but i figure if the swaybar isn't "flat" it may be an issue. like having excess pressure/tension on the brackets... is the front "stance" normal?

i stumbled upon your thread regarding the same issue... i'm pretty sure mounting the sway bar wheels up and whatever is a non issue... as long as both wheels are level... people saying otherwise do not understand what the bar actually does. every time both wheels are level there is absolutely no torsion/ tension on the bar and anywhere else. once the wheels aren't level with each other that's the only time the sway bar experiences any tension/torsion. the brackets are just there to "guide" the swaybar... so it doesn't fall off or veer away when torsion is applied.
if there is a difference when the bar is upside-down or right side-up i'm betting my money that the sway bar is mounted upside down. causing unnecessary downward tension on the brackets with every bounce.

That sounds like a reasonable theory, since it started right after he replaced the bushings.