95 with a busted sway bar

[caddy57]

I need to know if it would be OK to drive my WS about 400 miles to get it home with a busted sway bar. It broke while I was in PA and have to get back to upstate NY. I was really surprised that the sway bar was hollow. I would have thought that it would have been solid.Anyone that can post quick responce would be really appreciated.Thanks Steve

[Will Help]

You can probably drive it as long as you avoid high speeds, chuck holes and hard turns. It is there to improve handling and drivability.

I had a Pontiac van that broke a sway bar and it was solid. Didn't notice until I got under it one day to change the oil. Had been driving OK that I knew of.

[northern piper]

Is this a repair that you are planning on doing yourself? Not that it's a big job but if you're going to a dealer I can't see it being all that much money. Knowing how a sway bar helps body roll etc, I'd be kinda concerned about driving 400 miles myself. 20 sure, 400??

I guess the other thing you may be able to do is cobble together some sort of clamping system to hold ends together. How well it would work I don't know. If it snapped, there may be more going on with you front end suspension than you may know. If you haven't got fairly new sway bar links, they'll likely need replacement too, along with the bushings. So, there's a bit of work to be done.

Piper

[workstar]

No idea how far I drove before I noticed mine hanging down from the link. I noticed no difference in drivability or handling, although I had noticed it was easier to spin the tire on starts . I decided to wait until it warmed up to fix it and have put quite a few hundred hard miles on it since. -- ken

[caddy57]

Thanks for the quick replies. I noticed nothing until I was checking the tires on the trip and say a bar of some sort just sticking out of the front, as the tyres were turned all the way to the right. Drove fine. From what I can see its broken right at the bushing, I shoud say its rusted there. Think I will try and just go easy Thanks Steve

[Johnny Mullet]

You can totally remove a swaybar on this van and not worry too much about it. I had a 1995 and the bar broke right at the passenger bushing. I removed the entire bar and links, but never got around to getting it replaced since the van was a wishy-washy piece of crap anyway.

If you have a safety inspection, you might need it unless it was not visible to a mechanic who does not know what he's looking for

Safety is #1 in my book for all my customer's though, so call some junkyards and get another bar, but replace the bushings and links with new parts.