Sway Bar Help

I was in the process of replacing my sway bar bushing and one of the bolts broke off. I have tried heat, WD, and anything else you can think of. I have even tried to drill a hole and it is basically not going to happen.

Question is how much torque do these bolts take? Can I get away with only one bolt if I will not be racing or hot rodding this car?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

They use two bolts for a reason,,one will not work.

you might try heat and penetrating oil.

Find a top quality drill bit and drill it out,,it's never easy but it can be done. HRP

 

Rust or cross threads are a bitch.

We have nearly given up on the old methods of bolt extraction. One of our sure fired ways is to weld a nut to the broken bolt. The nut needs to be plain, not zinc plated! And have a through hole large enough to weld through.

TIG is what we prefer, but MIG can be used.

The second method is to drill out the entire insert and replace it.

 

I couldn't agree more. Now I reach for the tig torch before anything else. Almost always the quickest fix

 

Wouldn't it be easy to weld the bracket and forget the bolt extraction plan? If putting new bushings and will not be removing for years I can always use a cutoff wheel if need be.

 

I would try the welding the nut technique. If you weld the bracket, chances are you will ruin the bushing in the process.

 

Do it once, do it right!
Short cuts usually end up causing major grief in the future.
All the above suggestions are very good , try them!
Good Luck, KK

 

Drill it out.

 

El Polacko's suggestion has always worked for me - the heat from the welding helps free the thing up. Lotsa suggestions for penetrating oil, the 50/50 mix acetone and ATF sure seems to work, but it's still best if you can squirt it a few times and let it sit overnight. If you do end up drilling it out, you might ask around and see if somebody has left hand drills - a lot of times, as you work up through the sizes, the vibration and the penetrant cause the broken part to back out before you ever get it completely drilled out. Obviously, you'll need a reversible drill. Good luck.

 

Grind the end of the bolt smooth, then just drill and tap it like you were starting from scratch. It will either drill and tap which gives you a good hole, or somewhere in the process it will spin out and you're ready to just chase the threads.
Don't weld the bracket on; it's a hokey way to fix it.