broken sway bar

[harmankardon35]

ive heard a few of you guys mention this happened to you as well, just today i pulled a u-turn and hurd a loud POP and afterwords i could hear clunking over bumps. Looked and my sway bar broke (not the link, the bar right before the link) ...Can i just pull this thing out of there? its an older high-miler and i really dont care about some extra body roll...as long as its not outright dangerous im willing to just remove it.

any ideas? how much $ and how hard is it to replace?

[LittleHoov]

Its not terribly difficult to replace.

After raising and safely supporting the vehicle, and removing both front wheels you will need too:

Remove the endlink bolts, by whatever means necessary. Mine basically had to be cut off. It doesnt really matter, because a new swaybar from GM comes with new endlinks anyway.

Youll also have two bolts to remove on each side of the frame, four bolts total. I think theyre 15mm but thats just a shot in the dark. On the driver side, a ratcheting box end is a lifesaver, because the bolts are quite close to the brake lines.

After that, another person is very helpful, because the stock diameter bar should come right out of there without having to do anything, at worst remove a tie-rod end and it will give you the extra clearance you need.

When I removed mine, my dad pushed from the driver side while I pulled from the passenger, I dont think it makes a difference either way, but thats the way we went. I removed my passenger side tie-rod end.

I think its basically a GM only part.

Personally I think its a wonderful excuse to buy this:


But I understand if you dont want too

With that said, the stock diameter bar is actually MORE expensive than the thicker,performance one.

The part number for the bigger front sway bar is 12498643, look for it at www.gmpartsdirect.com

You can also browse their catalog for the stock diameter one, but like I said, last I looked it was 20-30 dollars more than the bigger one. Might as well get a little better performance out of your maintenance.

Its actually pretty easy, and the only difference the bigger bar makes in installation is you will have to pop a tie-rod end loose, which is not a big deal.

Let me know if you need anything else.

[harmankardon35]

thanks littlehoov

Im gonna order once i get my new visa activated but once I order it'll be a few weeks to be shipped and who knows when i can get around to doing it...am I safe just taking the link and broken part of the bar out for a few weeks? I can't tell any difference either than the clunking noise now

[LittleHoov]

My personal opinion is that its safe. Obviously the car wont handle as well, but if youre not pushing it hard, its doubtful a person could tell, as you stated.

Id say it probably does put an extra strain on things though, but for no longer than youre planning on driving it that way I doubt it would hurt much. But I would get it fixed as soon as youre able.

Im not sure if your state has safety inspections or not, and if so how stringent they are, but it is something that could cause you to fail inspection. If the inspector knew your car was supposed to have one, some vehicles dont even have one.

I also noticed either my link disappeared, or I didnt post it right in my first post. I linked you to the whole GMPP handling kit, but youre probably not interested in souping up the old gal

[krivasauto]

Rock Auto has this part for a hundred bucks. But if you use the interactive catalog, it tells you all the other cars that share this part. According to them, it fits:

BUICK CENTURY CUSTOM (1997 - 2005)
BUICK CENTURY LIMITED (1997 - 2005)
BUICK CENTURY SPECIAL EDITION 2005
BUICK REGAL (1999 - 2000)
BUICK REGAL GS (1997 - 2004)
BUICK REGAL LS (1997 - 2004)
CHEVROLET VENTURE (1997 - 2004)
CHEVROLET VENTURE LS 2005
CHEVROLET VENTURE LT 2005
CHEVROLET VENTURE PLUS 2005
OLDSMOBILE INTRIGUE (1998 - 2002)
OLDSMOBILE SILHOUETTE (1997 - 2004)
PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (1999 - 2002)
PONTIAC GRAND PRIX GT (1997 - 2003)
PONTIAC GRAND PRIX GTP (1997 - 2003)
PONTIAC GRAND PRIX SE (1997 - 2003)
PONTIAC MONTANA (1999 - 2005)
PONTIAC MONTANA SV6 2005
PONTIAC TRANS SPORT (1997 - 1998)
PONTIAC TRANS SPORT MONTANA 1998

You will see the U-van listed here. That is consistent with things that I have read that say the front subframe and a lot of the front suspension is the same, and that the U-van is just a body job on a W-car.

Why not go to a wrecking yard? That way you get practice.

[LittleHoov]

For whatever reason, the stock ones do have a tendency to break, mine was most of the way broken when I upgraded, and the OPs is already broken, we arent the first either.

Personally, I wouldnt want a bar thats been sitting in a wrecking yard, often exposed to the elements, since Lord knows when. Especially when that bar is prone to breaking as it is.

Even then, a wrecking yard bar will probably cost...oh say 20 dollars. Youll also need new endlinks, as well as frame bushings, might as well say another 20 dollars for that. Im not great at math, but thats getting closer to the performance bar price, which looks to be just under 80 bucks shipped.

If a person is going to buy a new bar, why pay more for the smaller one?

I agree that a wrecking yard bar sounds like an ok option if you just absolutely dont have another 30-40 dollars to spare. But it might not be the last time you find yourself replacing it.

Plus even the thicker swaybar alone should make a difference in your driving experience, not just in the corners, my car is not nearly as "floaty" as it used to be, just driving down rough or uneven roads.

[harmankardon35]

yeah, i notice my car drifts a bit on the highway doin about 110km/h (70 mph)...that aftermarket bar you posted littlehoov is on gmparts direct right? might as well get that one if its cheaper and better

[harmankardon35]

little hoov you said part # 12498643 will fit a 98 intrigue? it doesn't list it underneath the pic it only lists grand prix etc.., but just from cross-referencing from that list krivasauto posted it looks like its just a typical GM thing putting different part #'s (and different prices) on the same parts....

[LittleHoov]

Yeah the GM Performance Parts bar would be from GMPartsDirect. I think you can buy them from other vendors, but I doubt it would be much cheaper than buying it straight from GMPP. But it never hurts to look around.

Yes it will fit your car, at least it fits mine anyway, the handling kit just says grand prix, impala, and monte carlo as well, but I installed it on my Intrigue without a problem. Its the same basic chassis. I e-mailed GMPD back in the day and told them that it works fine on the Intrigue and they should mention it, but as you can see, it didnt work.

If youre replacing it, and replacing it with a new one. It makes no sense not too get the thicker one. Its the same installation procedure, minus the fact you will likely have to take loose a tie-rod end, which takes all of 2 minutes. The thicker bar is of course stiffer, so it should make the car a bit more solid than before. I cant say youll notice a drastic improvement with the sway bar alone, but it cant hurt anything, being bigger overall its probably less likely too break in the future as well. Mine is still intact, and its been through some interesting things.

[fhofstra]

I just replaced my 2000 GLS front anti-sway bar with the 12498643 unit from GM Parts Direct, as Littlehoov suggested. The original bar was half-broken on the driver's side, with the second half looking ready to break. $80 including shipping. Easy install. I took loose both outer tie rod ends to make things a bit less crowded. The only slowdown was the slow one-half-a-flat-at-a-time for the rear bushing bolt on the driver's side as LH said, but I'm retired, so that was just a good exercise in patience. The kit does not come with replacement bushing caps (the metal "C" over the bushings). I had to chisel the rust off the inside diameter of my old caps in order to push them down easier over the (maybe thicker?) bushings for the thicker bar. Not hard, and there is still enough metal on the caps (I hope), but if I was going to do it again, I would try to get new caps. I see they do come with the stock part kit from RockAuto (along with new bolts). My old bolts were good, after wirebrushing and lubing the threads. Thanks to Littlehoov for the info on the heavy-duty bar, and the install instructions. 180,000 miles down; hoping for 150K more...

[LittleHoov]

Did you notice any better performance from just the bar? Im always curious if anyone notices a difference from just the bar.

Glad it worked out for you though.

[fhofstra]

LH -
I did not notice any change, although I'm trying hard to imagine flatter cornering. I drive conservative, so it probably isn't likely to show, unless I get a chance to do some serious swerving. The old bar wasn't completely broken; you know how the ends of the bar are bifurcated (split in two)? One of the pieces was broken off; the other ready to break. But the new bar certainly can't hurt.
Another reason it is hard to tell was that I found the problem just a week earlier, when I replaced the original front struts and strut bearings with AC Delco parts from RockAuto. So that made a nice handling improvement just before replacing the bar. Car sure drives nice. Just need to replace the rear struts now. Only one year old and I think they are not so good any more. Going to use AC Delco or KYB this time (Monroe is what I put on).
I better stop before the "hijack" light goes on.

[sparcx]

Just to follow up on this since I just found out mine is partly broken...

I've been searching around for good pricing and noticed that the Dorman 927-100 bar is actually close to the same specs as the acdelco 12498643 version. It may even be the same bar.

That dorman kit actually comes with endlinks, bushings, clamps, and bolts. Clamps and bolts don't appear to be included in the acdelco 12498643 version.

From what i've read via google the dorman is an updated sway bar that is solid steel 33.58mm.

Runs $91 on amazon

Advance Auto has been running some decent coupons and you can even pick it up locally with in-store pickup. You might be able to get it for as low as $80 if they put up another decent coupon. (Sign up for their newsletter for promotions)

[LittleHoov]

Hmm..I didnt even know Dorman made one, looks like a decent deal. Id still want the cheaper one myself, because thats just my nature, even if I had to wait a bit. But thats definitely another option.

Ebay is another option that might even be cheaper than GMpartsdirect. I just searched for 12498643 on Ebay and came up with one for 65.95 with free shipping.

[busboy4]

Hi All,
changed out a long time broken bar on my '99 yesterday with the Dorman kit. Not too bad. Biggest challenge was the U bushing bolts at each frame. The rears were a tight fit for the tools - I used a shallow 15mm and or a 15mm wratcheting box end. Bar came out the right side without removing tie rod end - although that would have made it a bit easier. New bar is heavier and somewhat larger diameter. Kit comes with everything new so I used a power side cutter to just cut off the swaybar links on each side and then just center punched what was left down and out.

I did have the luxury of working on a lift, but the ability to be under the car was not really necessary. Just nice to work standing. Very do-able on the ground.

Oh, and I chose to change it out as both ends had failed and were smackin' around making noise.