Help: Stripped Stud for Sway Bar

jaywil

I just found out that one of the studs for my swaybar is stripped. It is the stud that the D-Bracket mounts to, not the Endlink. Anyone out there ever replace that stud? Don't even know if Nissan will sell that part.

What other options do I have? If I cut new threads, it looks like I'll have to move down in diameter. Wouldn't that create a weak point?

Thanks in advance for helping me be a less bad mechanic

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A couple of questions to clarify things:

1. Are you referring to the front or rear sway bar?
2. Since it is not the endlink that is the problem, I assume you're referring to one of the studs that holds the bushing bracket in place. Is this correct?
3. How did you strip the stud ... by cross-threading or over-torquing the nut?
4. Is the entire thread stripped or just a portion? Is there enough thread to install the original nut followed by a chaser nut to hold the bracket in place? I know that Nissan sells the nuts.

jaywil

1. Front
2. Yes, holds the sway bar bushing
3. Over Torque
4. Seems like the threads are mostly stripped. Seems like there are one or two threqds where a chaser would go, but not much past that.

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Perhaps Rusty will chime in. He may have some suggestions based on his experience.
I assume the other stud is OK ... so that at least you have 50% holding power. What if you cut the stripped stud off with a saw-z-all and then drilled it out and replaced it with a suitably-sized bolt and nut. Could you feed such a bolt from the back side?

jaywil

Yup, the other stud is fine. I do track the car, so 50% may not be enough to hold the bar in place. I hope I don't find out.

It appears like I can get the nearby bolts out of the way to either drill out the stud or tap it out. It kinda looks like a wheel stud, so maybe it is just pressed into a hole. My other option is to tap new threads on the existing bolt. The stud is an M10x1.25. Would I need to move down to M8 since I murdered the existing threads?

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A couple of things:

1. I'm certainly not suggesting that having the bracket secured with only one stud would be OK. Clearly the bracket needs to be fully secured ... especially if you're using a heavier duty after-market sway bar such as Hotchkiss or Eibach. I was simply interested in knowing if both studs were stripped. In your case, having only one of the studs stripped could be a deciding factor in terms of whether or not it would be OK to proceed with tapping the stud and reducing it to M8. I would have to defer to others with greater expertise in terms of whether this option would be viable. Incidentally, are you running the stock sway bar up front or an after-market one?

2. I can't recall how the stud is actually mounted ... and my car is in storage and under cover for the winter so I can't check it out easily. However, I would think the option of drilling out the stud and replacing it with a bolt and nut would work provided you can feed the bolt in from the backside. I can't recall the configuration so I don't know if it would be possible ... but I think it would be worth checking out. Perhaps some other folks will weigh in with their ideas. Sorry I can't be of more help.

jaywil

Ah I see where you're coming from. Yes, only one of the studs is stripped, which makes me feel a bit better about going down to M8. I was in the process on upgrading the OEM bar to a Hotchski.

I can feel the opposite side of the stud. Its flattened so no hex head or anything like that to grab onto. Since it is mounted into the engine cradle, I don't think it's welded. (I could be wrong here) If cutting threads doesn't work out for me, I'm gonna smack it a few times with a hammer to see if it just pops out. If that doesn't work, my plan is to cut it and drill a hole.

Thank you for the help. Having someone to bounce ideas off of has made me feel better about it.

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Glad to be of help. Based on what you're saying, if cutting new threads doesn't work out, I would think that you can just hammer out the stud and either replace it with another or with a bolt and nut.

You will notice a considerable improvement in handling with the Hotchkiss bar. I have the Eibach bar. Definitely less rolling going around corners.

ZoomZ

I like the nut and bolt option. If you have space. You can always feed the bolt from bottom (bushing/bracket side) and use the Nut on top. Of course that's if you can get stud out.

I have to look at mine to see what it looks like.

FSM is your friend for torque values.

jaywil

Turns out smacking the stud with a hammer got it free. I replaced with a similar bolt and nut. Nissan wouldn't sell me the stud by itself. They instead tried to sell me the entire engine cradle..

Thank you

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Glad to know it worked out.