PA Jeeps
The Garage => Technical Advice and Questions => Topic started by: Rusty XJ on June 21, 2009, 08:06:38 pm
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I was aware of the hole towards the front of my trac bar axle bracket being egged out but I was unaware that the one in the back was even worse. I had originally planned on just welding a plate to the front and being done with it. But since both holes seems to be messed up I'm confused again.
Anyone have any ideas to repair both holes and not have death wobble?
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I did a little searching on NAXJA and the only options I found were, if it's not too bad drill out the mount and the metal sleeve in the bushing to 7/16", weld the holes closed and re drill, or cut it off and get a new one welded on. I'll keep searching
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Im not sure if its the right way,but I have seen people take 2 grade 8 washers on both sides and weld them into place.(ya might need a longer bolt) I did this on a old spring hanger,only cause I knew I was doin a soa and wrangler spring swap.I did use it for a summer like that tho,it held up fine
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Yeah the 7/16" bolt idea was already in my mind because for some reason the bolt that came with the Rusty's trac bar was 3/8" but the bushing is already 7/16. I might try the washer or weld and redrill ideas, sounds like they would work but it's tight in there by the back hole. Unfortunately the front hole is the better of the two, the rear one is all kinda bad. (didn't know how to put it, no pun intended there)
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tack weld the washer on the bad side...that will get ya by till ya can come up with sumthin else
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drill it out and slide a carriage bolt in the frame to drop down and put a nut on it
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My dad had the idea of drilling the holes way larger so we could slide an alternator bushing inside the hole. Then we would weld it real good and grind it flat on the inside. We tried it and it seems to work so far.
The bushing from an alternator my dad had in a pile of nuts and bolts.
(http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p100/rustyxj/Trac%20Bar%20Repair/Rickie_cell022.jpg)
The trac bar holes drilled out to the outside diameter of the bushing (actually in our case filed out since someone bought a drill bit but didn't have a 1/2" drill to use it.)
(http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p100/rustyxj/Trac%20Bar%20Repair/Rickie_cell021.jpg)
Cut the bushing in half so that we could use it for both holes. Then we placed it in place inside the holes and used my new 7/16" bolt through them to hold them in place for tac welding.
(http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p100/rustyxj/Trac%20Bar%20Repair/Rickie_cell023.jpg)
The inside hole welded and ground down, getting ready to do the outside hole.
(http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p100/rustyxj/Trac%20Bar%20Repair/Rickie_cell026.jpg)
We made the front one stick out about a 1/4". So instead of having it just go into two pieces of sheet metal basically we built it up so hopefully if something starts to vibrate it won't egg the tunnel out as easy. Then we ground it down so the washer and bolt head had a flat spot to rest on and painted it.
(http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p100/rustyxj/Trac%20Bar%20Repair/Rickie_cell027.jpg)
Since the original bolt was 3/8" and the bushing inside my trac bar was 7/16" I got a new grade 8 7/16" bolt and nut to use so everything was a slight bit tighter. I just took the original 3/8" nut out of the little bracket and we welded my new nut to it. Also, the inside diameter of the alternator bushing was a slight bit smaller than 7/16" so we just drilled it out a slight bit.
P.S. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words but mine are from a cell so they are pretty much worth 1,000 drunken slurred words
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I'd say slightly tipsy rather then drunken.