Parts Flying Off!

[Alec]

Yup, that's right! I had parts fly off my truck today! While making a sharp right turn, I heard a loud pop from the front end. My torsion bars pop and creak sometimes, but never this loud. I figured I was 2 blocks from my destination so I'd check it out there. Well, as I was pulling into a space, a part just rolled out from underneath! It was the pass side U bracket that holds the front swaybar to the frame crossmember. Looks like one of the bolts had sheared off some time ago and the second one just let loose! I can still see part of the bolt in the crossmember.

It was dark, so I'll check it out tomorrow morning. Hopefully I can just go to Pepboys and get some grade 8 replacements. I might go ahead and do all 4 just in case the other side wants to do the same thing.

So now I only have half a working front swaybar. Just have to watch those curves until I get it fixed!

Anyone else have this happen? Or do I just corner much harder than everyone else?

 

[Jason_25]

You just corner harder than everyone else.

 

[ok89]

Well thats no good. On my old minivan we had the belt tensioner just fall off. But you probably do corner harder than alot of us

 

[Doug]

YOU DONT NEED A SWAY BAR! SWAY BARS ARE EVIL!

 

[Jason_25]

Originally posted by Namitey
YOU DONT NEED A SWAY BAR! SWAY BARS ARE EVIL!

LOL. I agree. I've been swaybar free for about a year now.

 

[go off road]

Same hear sway bar free.

 

[Doug]

*takes his rear swaybar and beats alec with it*

 

[TDG]

I'm sure the "Splat ain't no miata" incident didn't do much to help the sway bar brackets, be thankful it's still rubber side down.

Tim

 

[Alec]

ouch!
Question for y'all, can you keep up with an SLK 230 in corners?? I think not!

Cornering performance is very important to me. I use the swaybars onroad and disco them offroad.

 

[TDG]

To be honest with you I've never tried it. I have discovered that 275/55/R17s work wonders for the explorers handling however bridgestone dueler HPs don't seem to give a lot of warning before they let loose.

 

[Flounder]

When my pulley tensioner on the engine came off, I was at a Sheetz (chain gas station in PA). I start it up, you hear all these klunking noises and things hitting the groung. I shut it down, get out, there's a pulley wheel, spring, and a few other things on the ground. I laughed because it seemed right out of a Looney Tunes cartoon with the pieces falling off... Thank God it was under warranty

 

[Doug]

heh heh ive been to PA sheetz is a funny name for a store... *wonders wtf he is saying and goes away*

 

[Alec]

Well, got the front swaybar back on today. I think that those bolts had been loose for quite some time, cause the truck feels a whole lot better. Granted, potholes jar your teeth more, but at least I can change lanes without getting seasick.

One of the holes had to be retapped, so we used a 1/2" tap. The stock bolts are 15mm. So I have 3 new 15 mm bolts and 1 new 1/2" bolt holding the thing on. The new bolts look a lot better than the old ones did.

Anyway, saga over. Back to carving corners!

 

[Harry5150]

I had a lower front brake caliper bolt come off on the freeway once. I thought I ran over something on the freeway. It braked fine when I got off but when I tried to back up into my spot at work I couldn't. When the wheel was rotating backwards, it flipped the caliper up and jammed against the inside of the rim. I borrowed a car and 30 mins and $5.00 later, all fixed and no real dammage.

 

[Alec]

It's kinda scary how some bolts are really important!

 

[Rick]

Most important thing to check is the loose nut behind the wheel!

 

[Alec]

Rick

 

[Doug]

Hey rick go polish the dent

 

[Anime]

torque

Alec- for any kind of performance driving, whether sports car or SUV, you need to check up on the torque of such bolts that are just threaded in (i.e. no locknut, lockwasher, whatever. Sway bars, shocks, struts, even alignment adjusters have these sometimes!) Its a good idea to check things like this out on a regular basis when you frequently drive a vehicle hard.

I'm sure 99% of people don't do it, but as you found out, even loose bolts can make a handling difference!

 

[Alec]

Yup, all my suspension bolts are checked at least every month/six weeks. The swaybar stuff had been checked the beginning of April.