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Corroded Stabilizer Bar: How Bad Is It?

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    #16
    Ya, that's all sorts of wrong.
    2020 F250 - 7.3 4x4 CCSB STX 3.55's - BAKFlip MX4
    2005 Grand Marquis GS - Marauder sway bars, Marauder exhaust, KYB's
    2003 Marauder - Trilogy # 8, JLT, kooks, 2.5" exhaust, 4.10's/31 spline, widened rear's, metco's, addco's, ridetech's 415hp/381tq
    1987 Colony Park - 03+ frame swap, blown Gen II Coyote, 6R80, ridetechs, stainless works, absolute money pit. WIP

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      #17
      Originally posted by gadget73 View Post
      Those don't look like the right bushings. You should have that bracket flat against the frame, not stood off like it is. The bushing should fully close too. That bar does need to move in the bushing. Having it clamped too much will not allow it to rotate, and it will shred those bushings out in short order.
      Originally posted by pantera77 View Post
      Ya, that's all sorts of wrong.
      Umm, the last two photos were taken before the mounts were tightened down. I put the mount on the passenger side to hold the bar up so I could take a photo of just the bushing on the driver's side and then take a photo showing the splash guard on the passenger side. I went to wash my hands to avoid getting my camera dirty, took the photos, and then tightened down the mounts. They tightened down just fine. Considering that the 167's stuck out from the mount a bit, there's some degree of squeezing going on. You can see that the 167's were already showing some wear from the corroded parts of the bar, and based on what I'd been feeling, I'm inclined to think the wear is from being bumped due to excessive sloppiness rather than from rotational wear. In any event, I had nothing to lose with trying the 166's. I used chainsaw bar oil as a lube.

      The 166's are actually an improvement over the 167's from the perspective of less slop while driving. They were a little better today, as if they needed to settle in. Only time will tell.

      I know a yard where I can get a used bar for cheaper than what I'm paying for bushings, but finding a good bar will require significant travel time and a lot of luck. I might just go with a 29.5mm bar if I can find a good one, and then install an oil cooler. Finding silicone rad hoses with it would be a bonus.
      Last edited by IPreferDIY; 11-08-2015, 07:22 PM.

      2000 Grand Marquis LS HPP, a hand-me-down in 2008 with 128,000 km; 175,000 km as of July 2014
      mods: air filter box 'tuba', headlight relay harness, J-mod (around 186,350 km), 70mm throttle body, KYB Gas-A-Just shocks, aluminum driveshaft, ARA3 PCM

      Comment


        #18
        Some time ago, I took the 166 bushings off to inspect them, and they did not show any accelerated wear. I could see pitting in them, but I would presume that was just the pitting in the bar being imprinted on the bushings. The bar had a blue film on it, but that didn’t seem to be wear-related. There was no particulate matter, so if it was wear-related, it must have been some kind of powdery consistency like icing sugar that got mixed into the oil I used. I suppose one possibility is that the color was leaching out.

        The smaller bushings got rid of the ‘bumping’ problem, but another kind of slop became apparent. At some point, I turned the steering shaft back and forth while leaning over the engine bay, and I could see the Pitman arm moving back and forth. I got another one many months ago but never got around to it until last Friday. Not only was the joint bad, but the arm was sitting higher up on the splines than the replacement (a cheap TRW from RockAuto - I can’t help myself). The difference was pretty dramatic. The one good thing about the slop in the old joint was it took away the touchiness of the steering box when the steering wheel is centered. The rest of the slop (which only showed up at low speeds) was rather irritating though. That’s what I get for using a cheap part kit. Win some, lose some.

        There’s actually still a trace of slop somewhere. My first guess would be the idler arm. Is it supposed to move only back and forth? When the center link was off the Pitman arm, the joint on the end of the mounting bracket on the idler arm was able to rotate up and down as if it had a ball-type joint in there.

        2000 Grand Marquis LS HPP, a hand-me-down in 2008 with 128,000 km; 175,000 km as of July 2014
        mods: air filter box 'tuba', headlight relay harness, J-mod (around 186,350 km), 70mm throttle body, KYB Gas-A-Just shocks, aluminum driveshaft, ARA3 PCM

        Comment


          #19
          The idler arm ended up being pretty bad. Lots of up/down movement that it's not supposed to have. Unfortunately, the driver's side outer tie rod end emerged as being problematic, and I have complete tie rods at the ready. The ball joints seem to be okay at least, and I'll double-check them when I do the tie rods.

          I ended up getting a front and rear bar for ~CDN$15 each some time ago, and I'm getting ready to paint them since I want to swap at least the rear while doing rear shocks. Here's some stuff from the WAYWO thread about that:

          Originally posted by IPreferDIY
          Picked up my untouched sway bars and brackets from a powder coating place that had a look at them for a quote. Their main business is non-car stuff, but they do some car stuff on the side. They wanted $220 (CDN) when I was hoping for $80. No thanks. Another place that does car/bike stuff gave a rough estimate of $160 without seeing them. Still way out of my price range. I'll just resort to rust paint. I had wire brushed them before dropping them off, and in the >2 weeks they were sitting there, they had already developed lots of surface rust. After I clean the surfaces to my satisfaction, would I be better off using rust converter before applying the rust paint?
          Originally posted by 87gtVIC
          If you have it on hand it cannot hurt.

          If not cleaning it up really well will be fine.
          Originally posted by mitymerc
          I cleaned up, primed & POR15'D the bars from a Stang, held up for years...
          I currently have the brackets soaking in vinegar to get the last of the rust off the rear ones and hopefully the last of the paint off the front ones. After that, I'll use a Dremel-sized wire brush on them. The bars shouldn't require much more than a good wipe-down at this point, and I got some methyl hydrate at a clearance price for the final wipe. Since wiping down the brackets could be tedious, would brake cleaner be good enough for the final pre-paint stage?

          I'll try to remember to take pics of the front bar's condition before painting for comparison purposes. It seemed a lot better than the original, but it still has some issues (which I can live with, especially if the paint holds up).

          2000 Grand Marquis LS HPP, a hand-me-down in 2008 with 128,000 km; 175,000 km as of July 2014
          mods: air filter box 'tuba', headlight relay harness, J-mod (around 186,350 km), 70mm throttle body, KYB Gas-A-Just shocks, aluminum driveshaft, ARA3 PCM

          Comment


            #20
            Just when I thought I had gotten rid of the last rust on the rear brackets, I had a look with a magnifying glass. In some places, the pitting is so bad that it looks like foam with all kinds of air pockets, and a few pits still have some rust in them. After a bit of scraping, one more soak should take care of that.

            I'm wondering if I'd be better off not wire brushing the brackets. After taking them out of the vinegar, I rinsed with water, dipped them into a baking soda and water solution to neutralize any remaining acid, rinsed with water, used paper towels and compressed air to get the water off, and put them in my oven at low heat to get rid of any remaining moisture to avoid flash rusting. That went fine, and it leaves a very rough surface that would seem to be particularly receptive for a rust primer. If I wire brush them, I'll get a shiny metal surface, and I'm concerned that the rust primer would not adhere as well. Any thoughts?

            Also, is a top coat really necessary? According to Rust-Oleum, the rust primer is recommended for more protection since it's more resin-based, whereas the regular rust paint is more pigment-based, and the final coat is just a matter of what color you can tolerate. Looks are not an issue for me, so if I can get away with a few coats of primer and not bother with buying another type of paint, that would be fine with me.
            Last edited by IPreferDIY; 08-13-2018, 04:38 PM.

            2000 Grand Marquis LS HPP, a hand-me-down in 2008 with 128,000 km; 175,000 km as of July 2014
            mods: air filter box 'tuba', headlight relay harness, J-mod (around 186,350 km), 70mm throttle body, KYB Gas-A-Just shocks, aluminum driveshaft, ARA3 PCM

            Comment


              #21
              Pics of my spare front bar after wire brushing:

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              2000 Grand Marquis LS HPP, a hand-me-down in 2008 with 128,000 km; 175,000 km as of July 2014
              mods: air filter box 'tuba', headlight relay harness, J-mod (around 186,350 km), 70mm throttle body, KYB Gas-A-Just shocks, aluminum driveshaft, ARA3 PCM

              Comment

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