::WANTED:: Front sway bar for 85 SR5

[85SR5]

I recently came across a 97k mile SR5 4WD that for some reason I could't pass up. I decided to rebuild the front end and when doing so I snapped the sway bar. If anyone knows of the location of one, I would give it a good home. Thanks in advanced!

[Petros]

where are you located?

[85SR5]

I guess I should have mentioned that. I am in Northern Michigan.

[xirdneh]

i have a couple of them
but shipping costs would be high from washington

[85SR5]

I was hoping to find one a little closer but on the same hand I would like to have her on the road in the next couple weeks. I wonder what shipping would be from there?

[ARCHINSTL]

Just curious - and not a diss - the bar is pretty stout; how did you manage to snap it?
Tom M.

[Petros]

in Michigan, I imagine the salt trapped under the rubber donuts likely weakened it, and when he removed the large nuts it broke off the end. He would not be the first person that happened to, there was a very old thread on this topic.

shipping via USPS usually works out to about $1 per pound, it should be small enough to go USPS. more sent priority, though regular parcel post should get it there in about a week.

[85SR5]

Just curious - and not a diss - the bar is pretty stout; how did you manage to snap it?
Tom M.

I am EXTREMELY strong. Well, not really. Exactly what Petros said. Corrosion inside the rubber grommets caused a thinning of the threaded shaft and when I went He-Man on it, it snapped.

[marlinh]

I have come across one of them that was welded.

[ARCHINSTL]

Of course - I feel like a dunce for not realizing it!
When I did the bushings for Goldie back in 2007, the bar was ever so slightly necked down. I checked them again in 2012 and they appeared the same. Of course, I avoid snow and the salt we have here in MO (Retirement is great; it snows, I sleep in!).

Would adding welding material around a necked-down bar be considered "safe?" This necking-down is, to me, the only Achilles heel our little guys have.
Tom M.

[marlinh]

I would like to know myself because I have a few kicking around like that.

The one I saw that was welded was a car I had bought a few years ago. I was taking it apart to do the bushings and wondered why the nut on the end was a different size. Whoever fixed it welded on another stub from something else with different threads.

[Petros]

welding could work if done properly by a skilled welder. It would have to heated up first, to minimizes distortion and to get better penetration into the base metal. likely should be heat treated after to normalize the steal. Not likely your typical metal welder who makes decorative metal gates would know about doing all of that properly. Perhaps a certified structural welder would know what to do. Not something that should be trusted unless it could be verified, since a failed sway bar end has some pretty serious consequences (like death, at least totaling the car). Seems an unnecessary risk since you can still find them in wrecking yards in places where rust and salt are not a big issue. Of course in remote parts of world, there is not much else you can do, and you might even find a skilled welder in the out-back anyway. Much more likely to find a good welder than a 35 year old Tercel front sway bar.