Control Arm & Sway Bar

:frown: I am in the process or replacing the control arms. I started on the driver side. I am on my second day. I noticed that the sway bar is, where the sway bar connects to the control arm, completely snapped and is no longer connected to the control arm. Do I really have to replace the sway bar. If I don't will it mess up the front tires. If I have to replace the sway bar I guess I will order the parts from RockAuto.

Thanks in advance to anyone and everyone that will answer about the broken sway bar.
Oh btw long time no see.

The sway bar is necessary to help with cornering. The car can be run without it but I don't recommend it. They are not that expensive to replace and can make a world of difference when you drive the car. I also suggest that you replace the end links because the originals are probably dried out to the point where they are not effective.

Yeah, driving without it won't do any harm but will cause your car to lean a LOT more on corners.

In my Lincoln with a bench front seat I was struggling to not become the passenger LOL. After replacing only the end links I saw such a big improvement; same thing happened with the windstar.

Oscar.

That is what I thought. I have another problem. I can't get the front bolt off, from the control arm, the nut came off real easy. I have used the acetylene torch, but I have not been to get the bolt out. I have also sprayed the bolt with PB Blaster. That has not worked either. I am thinking that I have to cut the bolt in order to get the old control arm out. Does any one know the specs on the nut and bolt. That way I can just cut the bolt off and be done with it. I am going to give it another try and see if the PB Blaster that I spray last night.

We had a forum member get badly injured, and his gilrfriend died from an accident that he thought was caused by not replacing a broken stabilizer bar.

And dr hardware, do you mean the end link bolts wont come out? Cut them, because new ones come in the bushing kit, and may even come with the replacement bar if you order a GMPP.

on the sway bar is the sway bar its self broken or just the bolt for the link broken?

We had a forum member get badly injured, and his girlfriend died from an accident that he thought was caused by not replacing a broken stabilizer bar.

And dr hardware, do you mean the end link bolts wont come out? Cut them, because new ones come in the bushing kit, and may even come with the replacement bar if you order a GMPP.

I did not know that it would cause an accident like that. I will get the sway bar replaced before anyone drives the car. I was not thinking, but yes may she rest in peace.

No I have already replace the sway bar end bushings a long time ago. The GM bushings with the plastic bushings snapped apart so I used a kit from advance auto or autozone that had a long screw with and several rubber bushings.

The problem That I am having, is that the control arm the front mount screw not come loose. I had no problems getting the bolt off. I have sprayed the screw with PB Blaster and also used my acetylene torch. The screw is stuck inside the metal sleeve in the center of the control arm bushing. This is the bushing that on the front of the control arm that mounts to the front of the frame on the car.

Wow Tim, I didn't know it could be that bad; I used to believe you would be fine as long as you were more careful. It's a sad story, may she rest in peace.

DrHW.- have you tried putting a little pressure with a piece of wood and a jack on the bushing part of the arm? It might help to do it while you bang with a hammer on the bolt.

Oscar.

will the bolt turn at all. are you talking about the torx bolt?

Keep soaking with the blaster as long as you can and try Olopezms idea also, If it still refuses to break loose, you may need to cut the head of the bolt off as well as the other end. Then grind both ends flush to the frame, pry open the mounting area a little with a pry bar and work the arm out. It sounds like alot of work, but I have had to do this. Obvoiusly you'll need to replace the bolt.

DrHW.- have you tried putting a little pressure with a piece of wood and a jack on the bushing part of the arm? It might help to do it while you bang with a hammer on the bolt.

Oscar.

Yesterday was a total wash,:banghead: it rained all day. But before I stopped work on the driver's side, I burned all the rubber from the bushing. Now I have complete access to the metal sleeve. I did not have enough acetylene in my tank to get the sleeve up to the proper temperature. So later this morning I will hit air gas and exchange the tank for a full one. If that doesn't work, I will try to get the sleeve off with the dremel tool.

Yes I agree that it is a sad story, and may she rest in peace.

You can also lower the subframe slightly to get more room for a wrench or ratchet on the midpoint bracket bolts.

Oscar, that is what he though cause the accident. I dont have many details, but speed and curves may have played a role in the accident.

I got the acetylene exchanged tank exchanged. I am going to try to get the driver's side control arm off. While working on the driver's side I will start to remove the sway bar to get it ready to install the new one that I ordered from Rockauto. Hopefully since I have a full acetylene tank, I can get the control arm screws off. It is taking way too much time to get this job done. I am a little bit leery messing with the sub-frame. Knowing my luck I will mess up the sub-frame.

Oscar, that is what he though cause the accident. I dont have many details, but speed and curves may have played a role in the accident.

I guess the bottom line would be "At high or low speeds, a component is there for something". :biggrin:

I am a little bit leery messing with the
sub-frame. Knowing my luck I will mess up the sub-frame.

Nice! I hope everything goes well. I agree with you I don't like the idea of dealing with the subframe unless it's the last resource.

That's why I nearly hate my windstar, you either deal with the subframe or take the engine out for transmission repair... :banghead:.

Oscar.

Well I have gotten the old control arm off, with a refilled acetylene tank. I was able to get the torx screw off, by heating the sleeve up and pounding on the bolt that I left on the screw. I went to Ace hardware and got some grade 8 bolts and nuts. I also have to use washers on the nuts and bolts, since I did not get exact replacements from GM. I have ordered a new sway bar(Dorman Stabilizer Bar Assembly)form RockAuto. For the complete assembly it was $78.79 which includes all the bushings needed. The problem is, I can get the control arm mounted to the sub frame, but I can't get the ball joint on the control arm to the steering knuckle. Do I need to remove remove the knuckle in order to get the ball joint to mount to steering knuckle, or can I loosen the steering bolts in order to get the control arm ball joint to mount to the steering Knuckle. Also the weather has not been very cooperative, the wet season is here in IL., but the temperatures have been very good. Anything above 40 degrees is good for me.

I don't think you would need to remove the knuckle to be able to insert the ball joint but as far as I remember when I got new ball joints installed on mine they did removed the entire knuckle, at that moment I thought they might had been working more than they should; now I think they might have been right...

If can't use a cheater bar to get more leverage and install it, then just remove the knuckle and I bet it will be easier to attach it back to the strut.

By the way make sure you mark the position of the nuts on the knuckle in order to maintain the front end alignment and as a final note make sure you tighten the bolts on the arms with the wheels on the ground (suspension at full load), otherwise the bushings might deteriorate faster.

Oscar.

I was just looking at this...the OEM bolt has like 2" of extra unused thread on it...my guess was that was required to "pull" the sway bar into tension where all the rubber bushings are seated against the control arm.

The other idea along the same lines would be to carefully jack under the control arm to force it upwards which would have roughly the same effect - with appropriate care not to ding dent or otherwise damage the control arm.

Well I did finally get the control arm on the driver's side completely mounted. I used a ratcheting tie down to get the control arm mounting holes to line up with the sub-frame mounting holes. I mounted the ball joint to the steering knuckle first. After that it did not take long at all to get the control arm mounted.

I was having a hard time, getting the caliper guide pins to mount in to the caliper. I actually bent 2 of the guide pins trying to hammer the guide pins in to the caliper bracket, so I could tighten the pins in to the caliper. I know now what I did wrong. There is a rubber piece that in inserted in to the caliper bracket holes that holds the guide pin. I did not grease the bracket holes before I put the rubber piece in. I just put some grease on the rubber piece. I have another caliper bracket that I bought. So I greased the caliper bracket guide pin holes first. Then I inserted the rubber piece in to the hole, I was finally able to get the rubber piece all the way in to the caliper bracket hole. Hopefully I can get the driver's side done today and move on to the passenger side. I will go out later today and see if it is not too windy and the temp is not to cold either. So I can start on the passenger side and get the car finally done all the way. That way I can get 2 new tires and get the 4 wheel alignment that I need done, so that I can start driving the car again, to start saving on gas.

The sway bar mounting bracket. Sure does not have much room to get the back side screw out. I wonder hope the dealer gets the back screw out on the rear sway bar mounting bracket. I had to use a 15mm wrench, which took a long time to get the screw out. I was very happy that I did not have to use the acetylene torch on the screws on the driver's side. Hopefully the passenger side will come out as easily as the driver's side did.

It was too close to the brake lines, fuel lines and the rubber boots on the tie rod ends for the rack and pinion. I know that I would have melted the rubber boots, and may be even torched the car due to the fuel line being there.