Shredded axle boot...

[Will816]

I am a serious offroader, I've taken a rental Ford Taurus further than most people would take a 4x4 (it gave me a new respect for Ford cars, that thing got its butt kicked and still kept going). So in my ongoing pursuit of improving the offroad worthiness of my 03, I took off the nuts holding on the sway bar links and drilled holes through the bolts on the links, now they are held on with simple pins. It takes nothing more than the pull of 4 pins and a zip tie to keep the sway bar out of the way and let the front end do its thing.

I am currently on contract with Boeing in Everett WA and heard about a place right in town where some fun trails could be found, so Sunday morning I pulled the pins and off I went. Sunday afternoon, I got home and put the link back on the left side and then my phone rang. I forgot about the right side.

Monday morning I'm driving out of the driveway and saw the other link on the floor... Right as I heard a ka-clunk from the front right wheel. The end of the sway bar dug into the boot, shredded it up, and grease went everywhere. I feel like such a dope.

Crappy iPhone pic- it somehow got reversed so this looks like the left side

 

[p nut]

Ouch. Time for a new axle. Are you going to just leave the sway bar off?

 

[Will816]

Ouch. Time for a new axle. Are you going to just leave the sway bar off?

The axle is fine, the mangled, gnarly mess is just the rubber boot. I took the boot off completely and visually inspected the axle, it looked good, then I drove it up to 80 mph and there were no issues. The sway bar will stay, the car floats like a boat when its disconnected. I've actually been thinking about getting a thicker sway bar since I can easily disconnect it.

She's at the dealership getting a new boot right now.

 

[p nut]

The axle is fine, the mangled, gnarly mess is just the rubber boot. I took the boot off completely and visually inspected the axle, it looked good, then I drove it up to 80 mph and there were no issues. The sway bar will stay, the car floats like a boat when its disconnected. I've actually been thinking about getting a thicker sway bar since I can easily disconnect it.

She's at the dealership getting a new boot right now.

Well, depending on how far and where you drove, chances are, there is lots of dirt that got into the grease. Which means it will start eating away at the joint. Hopefully, the dealership cleaned them off really well, but usually, unless you take the whole thing apart, it's impossible to clean it thoroughly.

 

[CJ3Flyr]

That sucks... If I understand you correctly you're say 2 zip-ties instead of one is the answer?



I'd love more details and some pics of the swaybar disconnect mod... :bigok:



My front end stiffened up a good bit with just a bushing change. You may want to try that. (Link in my sig.) And with a quick disconnect why not enjoy decent roll control while street driving I haven't seen an aftermarket front bar.


Addco (@ Summitt Racing) has a rear. If you have a V6 you can also upgrade the rear with a V8 swaybar; it's 21mm instaed of the V6's 19mm. All the fronts seem to be 30mm no matter what. Do you quick connect your rear bar too?


:cheers:

 

[Will816]

That sucks... If I understand you correctly you're say 2 zip-ties instead of one is the answer?



I'd love more details and some pics of the swaybar disconnect mod... :bigok:



My front end stiffened up a good bit with just a bushing change. You may want to try that. (Link in my sig.) And with a quick disconnect why not enjoy decent roll control while street driving I haven't seen an aftermarket front bar.


Addco (@ Summitt Racing) has a rear. If you have a V6 you can also upgrade the rear with a V8 swaybar; it's 21mm instaed of the V6's 19mm. All the fronts seem to be 30mm no matter what. Do you quick connect your rear bar too?


:cheers:

Yeah, I saw that rear bar, I'll probably get it and if I can't find a front bar I'll definitely go to urethane bushings.

No, 1 zip tie is all that is needed to hold the bar up and out of the way (I drilled and tapped a hole in the frame for a screw with an eye on the end for the zip tie to go through). Both sides of the bar need to be disconnected. With just the left side connected, when I made a left turn coming out of the driveway the body rolled right causing the left suspension to drop. This translated across the sway bar to cause the right side of the bar to drop as well, but the right suspension was getting pushed up by the body roll so the bar went into the boot.

I just got it back from the shop, they even did me the favor of cleaning up all the grease

If someone would be kind enough to tell me the best place to host pictures I'll put a post up about the mod

 

[p nut]

If someone would be kind enough to tell me the best place to host pictures I'll put a post up about the mod

I've always used Photobucket.

 

[Will816]

Well, depending on how far and where you drove, chances are, there is lots of dirt that got into the grease. Which means it will start eating away at the joint. Hopefully, the dealership cleaned them off really well, but usually, unless you take the whole thing apart, it's impossible to clean it thoroughly.

About 2 miles total on dry, clean roads/freeway

 

[CJ3Flyr]

Yeah, I saw that rear bar, I'll probably get it and if I can't find a front bar I'll definitely go to urethane bushings.

No, 1 zip tie is all that is needed to hold the bar up and out of the way (I drilled and tapped a hole in the frame for a screw with an eye on the end for the zip tie to go through). Both sides of the bar need to be disconnected. With just the left side connected, when I made a left turn coming out of the driveway the body rolled right causing the left suspension to drop. This translated across the sway bar to cause the right side of the bar to drop as well, but the right suspension was getting pushed up by the body roll so the bar went into the boot.

I just got it back from the shop, they even did me the favor of cleaning up all the grease

If someone would be kind enough to tell me the best place to host pictures I'll put a post up about the mod

Got it. I missed that once side came disconnected; it now makes perfect sense.

The bushings are cheap and will help, you'll like them:bigok:


Like p nut I use Photobucket. It easy and seems to work fine. I shrink my pics to 640x480 before I send them to Photobucket as message boards are all I use it for...
:cheers:

 

[ric]

sorry to hear about the mess...
Im also interested in seeing how you discounted the swaybar... if you want to email me the pics, ill post them for ya...

 

[ric]

still waiting on the pics of this disconnect

 

[Will816]

still waiting on the pics of this disconnect

Sorry, still waiting for a dry day. I live in a condo complex in Seattle, no covered parking and its perpetually nasty and wet out. In fact its snowing right now. I'll get them soon. I've kinda turned into a fair-weather guy.

 

[ric]

Sorry, still waiting for a dry day. I live in a condo complex in Seattle, no covered parking and its perpetually nasty and wet out. In fact its snowing right now. I'll get them soon. I've kinda turned into a fair-weather guy.

ok thats understnadable :bigok: