In the garage :)

[NWMO]

Hello again,

-5 degrees F and a little snow last night, so church was cancelled (we're kinda soft due to the older congregants). After my wife and I cleaned the garage this morning, I moved the terc in. It was 4 degrees F and started after some cranking, but picked up a decent idle pretty quickly.



Fortunately, the little stove in the background does a nice job of keeping the garage bearable/warm.



After getting it off the ground and removing tires, I did a little investigation. Lower portion of the body was long gone and repaired with steel/bondo. Unfortunately, the support from sub frame to front and rear rockers is pretty well gone. I will post a separate message about possible repair.

After reading about the front sway bar failure possibility, I also removed the nuts and rear bushing half for investigation. I don't see hardly any necking at this point, but it would be pretty easy to pull, build up with welding bead and shape if needed.





All comments welcome.

Chris

[ARCHINSTL]

REPLACE THOSE SWAYBAR BUSHINGS!
►►► REALLY IMPORTANT:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3171

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6438&p=47934#p47934
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8137&hilit=sway+bar
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7481&hilit=sway+bar ◄◄◄ IMPORTANT!
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6793&p=51763&hilit=sleeve#p51763
Tom M.
From my car:

[simon84]

I have done two sets of sway bar end bushings and have not had those metal collars come out intact like those in the pics. In my experience they are pretty much turned to brown dust (ie. rust). But I have found that the sway bars were not that worn and put new collars in and put it back together.

[teranfirbt]

You'll want to avoid welding on the sway bars. They are heat treated after manufacture to add strength, welding them will anneal the material and you'll end up with weak spots where the metal needs to be strongest (at the shoulder where the bar goes into the bushing).

[NWMO]

I was wondering if the welding may be detremental. Fortunately, mine are in pretty good shape, though there was no evidece of the steel sleeves. Based on the condition and flexibility of the removed bushings, along with the relative ease of the nut removal, I would guess someone was here before me. I will likely look for a complete kit with sleeves & bushings. The bushings look correct, but would need to "squeeze" significantly to near tighten around the bar.

Chris

[teranfirbt]

Ah, gotcha. When I did my bushings I lubed up between the sleeves and the bar with some good zinc based anti-seize, will help keep the bar from rusting and will make future work easier.

[NWMO]

Hey All,

Has anybody tried this kit? Price is ridiculously cheap, but MOOG has worked well for me in the past.

poke here

Sleeves aren't included, but I could surely find them elsewhere or cut a thin wall pipe of the correct diameter. Might want to confirm correct product with picture if they would, but for that price, might be worth a chance.

Here are sway bar to frame bushings.

Again, cheap and a decent brand. They have 4 different accompanying pics, not sure what's up there.

I suppose I'm missing something, but thought I would post these at any rate.

Chris

[dlb]

NWMO, i'm not positive but i don't think that kit in the first link would work at all. t4's use 2 bushings for the sway bar-to-control arm: a donut for the front, and an oddly shaped one for the back. they are very specific shapes.

the sway bar-to-frame bushings might work but if you check yours, they're probably fine. i've never seen those bushings wear out, just the ones where it connects to the control arm.

these bushings (and the metal sleeves) are almost a 'dealer only' item, but there are polyurethane options available too. mad marx just posted about them here:

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6550#p90500

[Mad_Marx]

I'm very happy with the polyurethane bushings. The sleeves that come in the kit are stainless steel and much thicker than the factory sleeves.

[NWMO]

More info,

The first link above has a pic w/ 8 pieces, the product is just the two frame bushings (hate misleading junk like that).

Here are some more pics:











Comments on slight "necking"? Maybe build up & smooth a little with JB weld just to have a better fit with the spacer?

Do these look like the correct bushings, if the spacer was used? They don't look like the linked poly spacers referenced?

I can't believe searching the number is fruitless, maybe I'm off somewhere?

What would be the length of spacer needed (oem length) if these bushings appear correct (they are still pretty soft and pliable)?

TIA,

Chris

[dlb]

those bushings all look to be in very good condition. lucky you! they are very overpriced from toyota. your sway bar ends also look very good, no need to do anything to them IMO.

where are the metal sleeves that slide over the sway bar ends though?

[ARCHINSTL]

To me, this looks like very "slight necking!" I would ditto dlb!
Tim M.

[NWMO]

Thanks guys,

The metal sleeves are MIA, guessing whoever installed the new bushings just left them out. The car has been driven very little in the last 10 years. So, if I can get a length for the sleeve, I can find/fab something with an ID just larger than the sway bar threads and an OD just under the bushings diameter and I should be in business. Any help on the length and a possible source on sleeves?, I might try Fastenal and Ace Hardware for starters.

Chris

[NWMO]

Hey fellas,

If you look at the original photos or even just look at the size of the hole in the bushing from the side view, it is clear they have been significantly enlarged. A spacer would help, but a stock spacer would flop around in the bushings and a MUCH thicker spacer is likely not advisable. It might tighten up some, but another post here indicated the sleeve fit the new bushings and were snug.

Anybody with the poly bushings have feedback? (thx Mad_Marx), seems like the direction I may go.

2-4 weeks

For $41 and having plenty of other things to do in the mean time, sounds reasonable.

Chris

[4wdEconoBox]

I put the same kit in mine but it cost me $64 for that kit, so thats definitely a good deal, $25 cheaper, even though it might take slightly longer to get here, it only took about a week for mine to get here. I'm loving mine, it stiffened everything up a considerable amount!