mountainchef Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 (edited) 1992 Leg L wagon. Doing a lot of general overhaul on the car. Want to know if there is any way of checking the stock sway bar for trueness. Suspect it may be a little tweaked, mountains are rough! Edited September 2, 2009 by mountainchef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Take it out and lay in on perfectly flat ground, like a garage floor. Its possible to bend a sway bar, but probably not without being in a good accident first. I think you'd have to get both wheels at full travel in opposing directions to bend one noticeably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainchef Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 Thanks for the advice. Had a decent impact during winter snow driving. Bent Pass/front wheel. Any advice on another culprit to check while I'm in there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 What did you hit, how fast, and what is the car doing that makes you suspect something else is bent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOthis Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 I can say this...Personally from my experience Ive noticed more broken sway bars than bent ones..I'll put dimes to donuts that it will break before it bends significantly...depending on the impact obviously... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainchef Posted September 3, 2009 Author Share Posted September 3, 2009 Low speed, maybe 10-15 mph. Impacted slightly buried curb in a mostly forward travel with a slight passenger side drift. Probably about a 5-10 degree angle to the curb. Car now has light to moderate pull to the right. Could I be looking at a bent control arm? I don't have anything to compare parts to so it makes diagnosis a little challenging. Looking for a little direction from some of the more knowledgeable. Thanks for the support guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Could be a tweaked control arm. They are designed to absorb impact rather than transfering the impact into the frame of the car. The possibility of that at such a slow speed is pretty minimal though. More than likely you just need to get an alignment done. It doesn't take much to knock a car out of alignment. And being off by just a hair, as little as a tenth of a degree, can be noticeable when driving, though it may not be to the naked eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOthis Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 I would shake down the front end and do a thorough visual..maybe it tweaked a tie rod or something.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobywagon Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 A sway bar is not a bar so much as it is a spring. Bending one is a real trick. And if it IS bent, it will fail very quickly at the site of the damage. However, if it fails, its just a sway bar. You'll hear a loud BANG and then the car will start to wallow over bumps and turns. I wouldn't worry about it. Put it back in, align the car and drive it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainchef Posted September 6, 2009 Author Share Posted September 6, 2009 I would shake down the front end and do a thorough visual..maybe it tweaked a tie rod or something.. Visually things look pretty good but it's hard to determine if something is only slightly out of kilter without comparing to a known good part. Had this issue rebuilding the front end on my mom's Exploder. Already planning to do tie rod ends. Driver's side has a split boot and is oozing. Struts are in the near future but I need to rebuild the rear brakes first. Trying to buy all the parts for the suspension and do it all in a weekend so I only pay for one alignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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