Rear sway bar mount replacement

[na2ub]

Found this, while the engine was out.
Looks like it may be time for replacement, wevo or ER mounts. Any tips to removing the old ones? Looks like a bit of a bear, depending on how thoroughly it was welded on. My other thought was to get an OE replacement, and use it as a patch, to replace the bent portion of the mount (ie not cut the original off the frame, but weld on a replacement bottom portion)

Any insight would be helpful for those that have tackled this before.

[winders]

Another torn Rear Anti Roll Bar mount...

[tperazzo]

I saved/repaired the factory bracket but reinforced it so it won't break again.
The advantage is less disruption to the blind cavity in the chassis.
My video below shows the repair.
https://youtu.be/uz4RoEjUxfw

[winders]

Originally Posted by tperazzo

I saved/repaired the factory bracket but reinforced it so it won't break again.
The advantage is less disruption to the blind cavity in the chassis.
My video below shows the repair.
https://youtu.be/uz4RoEjUxfw

The problem with the repair you made is that it is still attached to thin and weak sheet metal. It fixes the mount itself but not the part of the chassis to which it is attached. Even using the Wevo part, which would have been better, has that problem. The JWE solution fixes that problem by spreading the load and attaching to stronger locations and can handle even the thickest sway bars on race cars. It may be overkill on street cars with smaller rear sway bars. Back in the mid 90's, I used my street Porsche for autocrossing and had front and rear Charlie Bars. The rear bar kept braking the welds on the mounts. Nothing we did fixed the problem until I went with that Weltmeister mounts that attached to the torsion bar tube with U-bolts. We did not have the JWE solution available to use back then.

Also, sway bars work in a turn by creating a lifting force on the inside tire. That lifting force is resisted by the spring and maybe the damper on the inside suspension. That resistance effectively stiffens the outside suspension and resists roll more forcefully than it otherwise could. A car with no rear sway bar has a much easier time keeping the inside rear tire on the ground but it rolls more. When you use a sway bar, the suspension is no longer fully independent.

[Quicksilver]

I tore out the sway bar the first time over 20 years ago. Andial repaired it with the factory "upgraded part" but that still isn't a strong solution. 15 years later it tore out again. (Andial always did the best quality work so that wasn't the issue.)

As winders pointed out the Jerry West Enterprises solution attaches to the torsion tube which is actually designed to take the loads of the whole car. I put in the JWE solution and while I was at it I was able to raise the swaybar mount a bit for a little more ground clearance. A truly permanent solution with an additional improvement.

BTW - For an "interesting driving experience" try driving the car hard with no rear swaybar. It picks up the inside front 4 to 5 inches!

[na2ub]

Thanks for the tips. I plan to continue to run stock bars for now, and possible upgrade to carerra sways later, which are just a few mm bigger.

Are the factory mounts welded all the way around, or do they only have a few short welds? I would think i will be using the air die grinder, which will hopefully give me enough room.

[na2ub]

Ok. After some hesitation, I got out the die grinder and got to work. For those considering this at home, like myself, it is not too difficult. To answer my own question, the factory mounts are welded to the seam on each side of the bottom of the mount. To cut this weld was pretty easy, from the outside 'side' of the car. The die grinder easily follows the contour of the seam, so you do not risk damaging it. I just cut along this contour until I was just past the depth of the seam, then gave the bottom of the mount a whack with a hammer. I did use a sharp chisel, to assist where necessary. Once these welds were loose, I moved to the the inside.
As far as the inboard side of the mount, there was a single stitch weld on each side, about halfway up. I took extra care here, not to grind into the frame metal. I started on the forward side, which I found easier to reach, and worked back and forth between the grinder and the chisel to separate this weld. Once that on was done, I was able to simply bend the mount backward over the last weld (toward the rear) until it gave up.
The result was zero damage to the frame, with a little bit of weld left, which I will smooth back down.
I did notice that the frame seam, actually had a small split, through both panels, at the very trailing edge of where the bracket was attached, so I'll be welding those up before installing the new ones.
I think I'll go with the Wevo's, as they should be enough for my application. I would consider the JWE, but I'm not excited about removing the factory undercoating off of my torsion tube.

[rokemester]

My torsion bar brackets were toast after removing the bar during a suspension refresh during 2020 COVID project. I went with Elephant Racing beefy brackets. I did the prep work but left the welding to my friend who is a pro welder!



Here are the Elephant Racing brackets. We drilled holes for greater weld strength. Pro tip!





I couldn’t have done this alone!!

[winders]

Again, welding a bracket, even the WEVO bracket, to the stock location doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. The sheet metal the bracket is welded to will fail if enough force is applied.

[na2ub]

Winders,
I appreciate your input, especially as one who races, but I have not seen any WEVO or ER failures on this forum (for us street / track guys). I could see if you are running 26mm bars with 11" slicks, you might apply 'enough' force to stress the unibody, but do you think these parts would fail with 22mm bars and 245 wide tires? (I have a 29mm rear torsion).

Honestly asking what failures you have seen.

Thanks

[winders]

The WEVO bracket does not break. The sheet metal it is welded to tears. You get rid of the weak Factory mount and you transfer the rocking forces all to the sheet metal. Then the sheet metal fatigues and tears. The solution is to keep the mount from rocking. It's similar to a bolt being in single shear versus double shear.

My street 911 with just 245/45 autocross tires and a standard Charlie Bar ripped the sheet metal 3 different times. We finally went with a Weltmeister mount that used an u-bolt and attached to the torsion bar tube. That solved it. I saw the same failure several times back in the mid to late 90's. Granted it was mostly autocrossers. But the shop that worked on my car told me that had to use the Weltmeister solution I used several times.

Hey, you do what you want. I am just pointing out the weak points.....

[rokemester]

Wow, and I thought I had such a robust repair! Didn’t think that the factory body metal would be a week spot.

[donbecker1234]

Originally Posted by winders

The WEVO bracket does not break. The sheet metal it is welded to tears. You get rid of the weak Factory mount and you transfer the rocking forces all to the sheet metal. Then the sheet metal fatigues and tears. The solution is to keep the mount from rocking. It's similar to a bolt being in single shear versus double shear.

My street 911 with just 245/45 autocross tires and a standard Charlie Bar ripped the sheet metal 3 different times. We finally went with a Weltmeister mount that used an u-bolt and attached to the torsion bar tube. That solved it. I saw the same failure several times back in the mid to late 90's. Granted it was mostly autocrossers. But the shop that worked on my car told me that had to use the Weltmeister solution I used several times.

Hey, you do what you want. I am just pointing out the weak points.....

Any pictures or links to the Welmeister setup you mentioned?

[famoroso]

Did the Wevos on my '87. Will be doing my '89 soon, would like to see this other alternative too. Part number? Link?

Thanks

[winders]

Start here:

Welding Rear Sway Bar Mounts

This would not be the solution I would recommend today.

[na2ub]

I did notice, when I removed my factory mounts, that the panel seam had cracked (torn) at the rearward edge, where the mount was welded. Is this the type of failure you refer to? Any insight on the direction of the forces acting on these mounts, if I were to add support? I would guess up and down, but with my panel seam cracked, it could almost indicate side to side.

[TxGerman]

Originally Posted by winders

Start here:

Welding Rear Sway Bar Mounts

This would not be the solution I would recommend today.

Scott,

I understand your concerns and have looked into the JWE solution you have mentioned. I can't find it on their website anywhere. Do you have a link or is it possible that someone else might be making the mount you recommend? I would really like to consider that solution, but just haven't found what you're referring to yet.

Thanks in advance

[Mr. Merk]

Several years ago I found the Rebel mounts on Rennline for .99 each! Replaced my ripped mounts with those before I stepped up to 245 R compounds

[TxGerman]

This is what Rennline offers today: https://www.rennline.com/rear-swaybar-mounting-bracket-pr-sku-s-111-rarbc/

Here's what Tarret has: https://tarett.com/collections/swaybars-drop-links-911/products/rear-sway-bar-mounting-bracket-pair-all-911-2270028

And Rebel: https://www.rsrproducts.com/product-page/rear-swaybar-mounting-brackets
or https://www.rsrproducts.com/product-page/rsr-products-rear-sway-bar-mount-gusset-kit

But I haven't found the style that Scott describes where the reinforcing bracket extends up to the TB tube. Does anyone know where to find that style sway bar mount?

[winders]

Originally Posted by TxGerman

I can't find it on their website anywhere.

Call them or send them an email....