Sway Bar lower bolt on link broke off ruined and drained CV boot... HELP!!!

So the whole story is...

I had Pat Lobb install a Icon 3 inch lift and Icon Tubular UCA's. Everything was fine for a bit but started noticing a little knocking noise every once in a while while hitting bumps during turns at slow speeds.

I kept looking for nicks and dings under the front end on both sides. I could not find any markings from the mysterious knock. So i continued to drive the truck.

Well I went to the lake this weekend and drove down some bumpy dirt roads and all and even got to use 4 high a bit while wheelin around in the dust.

The drive was roughly 200 miles up and 200 miles back.

I return home to notice that my sway bar link on the passenger side has a nut missing from the lower part of the link and the sway bar has hit and rubbed my boot to hell and it is completely shot and leaked lubricant all over my wheel well area.

I am a bit concerned as I have to drive it tomorrow to pick up my wifes 4runner and then I can go straight to Pat Lobb with it. 15 miles roughly.

Damage assessment anyone?

Also can I drive it safely?

Should I take it in and get a new boot and lubed up then remove sway bar or relocation kit?

I feel like a complete idiot that I could not find the knock before this happened.

All recommendations need and welcomed.

 

if just your boot is torn you have nothing to worry about you can drive for a while as long as the sway bar isnt hitting anything

 

Can you reattach the link temporarily? Or ziptie the sway bar up off of the CV boot? You can drive it with the boot leaking temporarily but don't do it for weeks...

I would have them at minimum replace the boot and keep a close ear on any clicking sounds from that wheel...as far as I know from reading on this forum you should use a relocation kit...

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, this is why I do all modification myself...It may take me a weekend what a shop can do in a couple hours but I know I quadruple checked everything for torque and correctness and can only blame myself if its wrong...

 

Take off the swaybar and throw it away

 

I wonder if they didnt torque down the lower link piece well. I would love to get this fixed for free by the dealer but I bet that is an uphill battle.

I believe I can ziptie it up out of the way for now.

 

As soon as I get this fixed it is coming off for sure.

 

+1 i have no sway bar

 

take it off now to prevent further damage

 

Just get a sawzall al cut that bitch out with it still on the truck

 

I'd take the sway bar off for now to prevent more damage, but keep it around. It makes a big difference on highway driving or it will push like a bulldozer on exits. (don't let the hard cores tell you otherwise, they think that our trucks shouldn't be on pavement anyway)
If your 15 miles takes you on dirt or gravel, get out and walk or take a bicycle with you if you don't get the boot fixed first. Our CV's are suppose to be really good, but there isn't one made that likes gravel in it. Get the boot fixed asap.

 

Yup. Ditch that bitch. As for the rest...I'm pretty sure you're good for a little to drive like that. I wouldn't never get it repaired though. But it's not like draining your transmission and driving around with it empty.

 

Thinking twice about it, if you remove the sway bar linkage the bar itself will stay away from your suspension you shouldn't have to worry about the bar hanging there for now.

 

That is good news. I will do as some have recommended and zip tie it out of the way.

 

Mmmm. I'm pretty sure it will tear the sweet shit out of your CVs.

 

OK so after reading all this. I will get the boot fixed up tomorrow, deabting whether to go pull the sway bar off now or let them do it at Pat Lobb.

I dont have too many tools and it is 103 outside. I know bitching, it sucks but we all do it.

I do a lot of highway driving and trips so I like the nice ride of the truck but I like to get down in the mud and rock when I can.

 

If you got a skid on it's a bitch to get off if you leave the plate on.

 

i would wait til night and do it yourself. if that patt lobb place messed up would you really trust them to do something else?

 

I cant say that they did. I know they have a good rep on here and have done great work with my truck so far, but there are things that I think they might slip up on. They had to cut my UCA bolts to get them off because the guy couldnt get them out without beating the pinch weld area in the fender well.

So not experienced lift kit installers but a good shop none the less.

I think I might take it off tonight though and let them do the boot as that is normal maintenance for them.

I guess I can drop the skid plate and then remove the bar. Instructions say to remove the tires but I am guessing that is for ease not necessity.

 

yea to remove it its easiest to drop the skid. once you get the bar loose then it will kinda be loose in there but still wont come out.

so what i did was drop the bolts out of the brackets that the skid bolts on to except the ones closest to the rear of the truck. those ones i just loosened so i could turn those brackets out of the way to pull the bar out.

also having the sway bar removed will allow your truck to have more body roll. it also allows the ifs to articulate more freely.

you may not be comfortable driving like this on the highway as it increases your likeliness to roll over if overcorrecting at speed.

if you dont off road much then your better off putting the sway bar back on.

 

Thank you for all your help and I mean everyone. I did exactly as stated above and pulled that bitch out.

While under there I noticed that one of the bolts for the bracket that bolt to the cross member was missing (they must have forgotten it when doing my brakes or lift?) on the driver side toward the rear. Other than that I noticed that the lower bolt on the link for the sway bar is a pain in the ass to remove so I have a feeling it wasnt torqued down or something.

I drove around the block and ran up on the curbs and turned the wheels back and forth and did the same in my driveway where I normally hear the noise when backing out.

NO KNOCKING at all ANYMORE.

Damn sway bar.

I plan to explain this situation to Pat Lobb tomorrow and see if they will hook me up with a boot and all for free. Once they are done with that I will place the skid back on and leave the sway bar off for now.

If i feel the need I will put it back on.

The only bad part is I left the links to the sway on the truck just dangling. I noticed that they do not touch anything on the suspension or cv boot as they move with the spindle and hub.

Thanks again guys.