Re: Sway bar bushing taffy pull

Posted by HH56 On 2016/9/12 19:46:17

Kev put on completely modern supports and IIRC, had to make spacer blocks to drop the modern bracket down to get the Packard distance.

Factory appears to have sold the bar, bearings (those particular bushings) and supports as a unit. Others have commented they were spot welded together early on at the 51 intro but later ones could be separated.. The 51-4 parts book lists the inner and outer portions as separate pieces -- maybe for service or maybe a later version. It appears they were spot welded again on 55-6s with no separate pieces listed.

I don't think there would be a downside to drilling out the welds, changing the bushing and then using a C clamp or bolts thru the frame holes to force the pieces back together. Once the bushing is compressed and the drilled out holes line up, you could bolt thru them with 1/4 or 5/16 grade 8 bolts. The main strain is going to be up and down which the frame bolts would take care of. If in fact the later ones were not welded, I would think the spot welds were not that necessary and bolts should do equally well.

You can split the new bushing to go over the rod but I don't see how the new bushings can be installed in the bracket without taking it apart.