Rear sway bar nut missing!? (Discovered when inspecting brakes)

[BrakeL8]

Hi all-

Inspecting brake pads and just noticed the following as shown in the attached images.

Appears the nut that holds the rear sway bar on came loose?! Presume I need to preload this with a jack or other in order to get tension off and be able to remove this and inspect to bolt for damage- however i'm inclined to replace the bolt as well given any stress that may have been put on it.

Ever seen this before? Would replacing the other side as well be prudent or simply double checking the torque?

Appreciate the help and happy Spring to us all.

[Superman]

That is not where my sway bar attaches. In your first picture, you can see where stock sway bars attach, not to the spring plate but rather to the trailing arm. That attach point is down and to the left of your sway bar drop link attach point.

I am not a suspension expert but I think that nut and bolt exist for the purpose of locking your spring plate securely to the trailing arm. In your second picture, the nut to the left of the missing nut holds an eccentric bolt. To adjust rear alignment (toe or camber or something), you loosen the missing nut, then loosen the nut to the left and turn the eccentric bolt until the proper alignment spec is achieved, then tighten both nuts.

[Walt Fricke]

Get a nut and washer, put them on, and tighten. The two bolts at the far rear of the spring plate do most of the holding. This is your toe adjuster, and it doesn't lock anything other than the adjuster. When tightened, the inner part of the adjuster is clamped to the spring plate, and does nothing to hold the aluminum banana arm to the spring plate. It is a convenient way to get an attachment for aftermarket sway bars.

Of course, take a look at the other side just to be sure everything there is tight. If really worried, have the alignment checked.

[BrakeL8]

Originally Posted by Walt Fricke

Get a nut and washer, put them on, and tighten. The two bolts at the far rear of the spring plate do most of the holding. This is your toe adjuster, and it doesn't lock anything other than the adjuster. When tightened, the inner part of the adjuster is clamped to the spring plate, and does nothing to hold the aluminum banana arm to the spring plate. It is a convenient way to get an attachment for aftermarket sway bars.

Of course, take a look at the other side just to be sure everything there is tight. If really worried, have the alignment checked.

Thank you- that’s very helpful to visualize and better understand how things work!

[juanbenae]

jack it up some to unload it to line the bolt up better before you tighten it.

[dad911]

Rear camber adjust 1976 chassis

Originally Posted by Flojo

Look on the backside at the dirt and see if the plates have shifted. If so, get it aligned at a shop that knows how to align an early 911.

[boyt911sc]

Originally Posted by Superman

That is not where my sway bar attaches. In your first picture, you can see where stock sway bars attach, not to the spring plate but rather to the trailing arm. That attach point is down and to the left of your sway bar drop link attach point.

I am not a suspension expert but I think that nut and bolt exist for the purpose of locking your spring plate securely to the trailing arm. In your second picture, the nut to the left of the missing nut holds an eccentric bolt. To adjust rear alignment (toe or camber or something), you loosen the missing nut, then loosen the nut to the left and turn the eccentric bolt until the proper alignment spec is achieved, then tighten both nuts.

+1.

The drop link for the rear sway bar is attached to the trailing arm and not to the spring plate. Revise the installation to the correct pivot point.

Tony

[old school 911]

Hello...You can check this thread as well.

Adjustable Rear Drop Link Attachment

[BrakeL8]

Originally Posted by boyt911sc

+1.

The drop link for the rear sway bar is attached to the trailing arm and not to the spring plate. Revise the installation to the correct pivot point.

Tony

My car had weltmeister front / rear swaybars on it when I bought - per this thread I believe this is how they installed?

Weltmeister Rear Sway Bar Instruction / Installation Manual

[BrakeL8]

Looks like perhaps more aftermarket folks do this? (I was also thrown when looking at factory in the bentley)

edit: thank you old school 911 for the thread reference!

[TimT]

The first image posted are of Weltmeister sway bars, and that is indeed the way they connect to the swing arm.

[BrakeL8]

Originally Posted by TimT

The first image posted are of Weltmeister sway bars, and that is indeed the way they connect to the swing arm.

Thank you Tim! I ordered this part from Pelican yesterday which I believe is correct per the Bentley manual. https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/N0221414.htm?pn=N-022-141-4-OEM

Look forward to getting this on/fixed and all suspension bolts re-torqued.

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by boyt911sc

+1.

The drop link for the rear sway bar is attached to the trailing arm and not to the spring plate. Revise the installation to the correct pivot point.

Tony

-1

a number of after market sway bars attach to the spring plate. the smart racing bars I used did in addition to the weltmeister example identified here.


you just get the toe set, tighten everything up, then install the swaybar links into the spring plate after remove the toe adjustment hardware. I still have a couple toe eccentric bolts and nuts floating around in my tool box.

[boyt911sc]

Originally Posted by boyt911sc

+1.

The drop link for the rear sway bar is attached to the trailing arm and not to the spring plate. Revise the installation to the correct pivot point.

Tony

My mistake. The sway bar is not the OEM I thought it was. The sway bar is an aftermarket product and mounted differently.

Tony

[juanbenae]

the angled mounting surface on the trailing arm was too much for after market producers to mate at keeping adjustability and load limits worth while. that's why the OE non adjustable links are offset. even the eibach units drop links are offset and the choking up of the bar using leverage settings to make the bar stiff to looser much like the after market edition.

if you notice the good, stiff after market adjustable units that have the drop link that attaches to the spring plate they stays parallel to where it mounts to the bar. a drop link on a 90* "pivot point" from it's loaded condition will always be stronger than one at some funky angle with stresses from different directions

[BrakeL8]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

the angled mounting surface on the trailing arm was too much for after market producers to mate to and keep adjustability and load limits worth while. that's why the OE non adjustable links are offset. even the eibach unit drop links are offset and the choking up of the bar using leverage settings to make the bar stiff to looser much like the after market editions .

if you notice the good, stiff after market adjustable units that have the drop link that attaches to the spring plate they stays parallel to where it mounts to the bar. a drop link on a 90* "pivot point" from it's loaded condition will always be stronger than one at some funky angle with stresses from different directions

I appreciate that. Were you in my shoes w/ a car acquired w/ weltmeister's front and rear what would your move be? Purchase other aftermarkets? Or replace the bolt, loc-tite and re-torque front and rear swaybar hardware bolts?

Thanks

[juanbenae]

when I suggested you "unload it" prior to tightening I should have been more specific. I should have said you might want to load the trailing arm (jack it up some) since it's at droop now before tightening so the bolt is 90* off the spring plate surface.


some good suggestions above looking on the back side of the SP has moved vs. TA to see if anything has shifted around. if the two main bolts on the SP/TA are tight along with the camber bolt I would expect it not to have moved much.

if it was me id leave what you have in there. but not before buying new mounting bolts/washers/nuts for both sides at that connection point. nylocks would be a nice fit.


do some research on adjustable sways and alignment. you do not want the sway bars loaded while the car is at rest. meaning that if sitting the SB adjustment should be neutral, no tension. if close usually you can disconnect one side, settle the car and then reattach the link. often adjustable bars can actually harm handling if loaded while it sits by lightening a specific corner under load.

[juanbenae]

also, check every fastener on the sways front and rear to see if the installer missed dotting any other I's or failed to cross another T.

[BrakeL8]

Thank you. Will report back.

[Walt Fricke]

This is just a garden variety WeltMeister or the like aftermarket sway bar link setup. You only need a nut and washer, which you can get from any decent hardware store, though I forget what the thread is - might be SAE and not metric because these are made in the US.

With the car on the ground, and preferably someone in the driver's seat (though usually this is skipped), you adjust the links so that there is no force on the sway bar. Doesn't matter much which side you adjust, though keeping things sort of symmetrical is good practice. When you can grab the link with your fingers and rotate it easily, that's where you want to be.

These adjusters are eccentric, which is how they shove the banana arm back and forth for toe, and up and down for camber. When aligning things, it makes sense to lock them down, but that's so that things are where they are supposed to be when you tighten the two bolts at the far rear of the spring plate. If those aren't tight enough, the toe adjuster isn't going to keep the toe where it should be all by itself, and as you will see if you remove it, it doesn't act as a clamp. You want it tight so it doesn't wiggle around, and so the sway bar adjuster works as it should without there being a sort of dead band where the chassis leans but the sway bar isn't being twisted until it leans farther.