Wow, can't believe i never found this thread. Thanks for reviving. I am having some crazy noises from the rear and have tried a few things including new rod ends for the sway bar links. Where you running OEM sway bar links or the solid adjustable ones?

 

Does the stiffer sway bar make this failure unique to the SRT?

 

Pulling into my sisters driveway last night and it sounded like someone pitched a tennis ball at the car.
PONG!!! (what the hell was that!?)
When I left, I now had an extremely loud "thunk" from the right rear.
It looks like the bracket itself broke, releasing the rubber bushing, and subsequently, the bar itself.
The bracket is still attached to the floor, but the bar is slamming into the underside of the car when jolted.
(just under 50K miles, everything looks clean...no corrosion.)

I assume the cause is the same, and the repair as well? The only fix is to dis-assemble the rear suspension and re-weld it?
I cannot begin to afford this repair currently, if it will be a $1K plus job....
Is temporary removal of just the stabilizer bar a viable option until funds are available?
(not necessairily the smartest option from a safety standpoint I realize, but is it mechanically sound option, or would it lead to further damage?)

 

I used add on ADDCO sway bars on several cars and they regularly pulled patchs of the floor out of the cars, due to stress loading..... Remember when I lowered my seat, I added a strap between the new bolts for strength, lesson learned.

There is a lot of force being liberated on to the chassis to let the weight transfer function of the sway bar come into play. We may wanna get into a stiffener to prevent frame / floor tearing. Woody

 

A crossbrace for the rear floor..not a bad idea Woody.

UPDATE: Well, after a closer inspection, the bracket failed for sure, but it appears very sound at it's attachment point. (whew!)
The only damage was to the bracket itself. Ordered a new one through the Chrysler dealer; $17 coming from Milwaukee.

New question: How involved is replacement? Can the bar be removed independent of the rest of the rear suspension?
What actually needs to come off? Does anyone know if the bracket can be replaced with the stabilizer bar still otherwise attached?
I have a good mechanic friend and we will be doing it together, but neither one of us has any experience with the XF suspension.
Any hints are greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!!

 

If it is the one in this picture below then you can do it without removing anything except the wheel.

IMG_1832_zpscb715cec.jpg

The one on the right is the factory OEM one.

Now, who is going to fabricate the first sway bar stabilizer brace and share their design?

 

It looks similar to that but has an electrical plug anchor associated with it as well. (ABS?)
It is on the passenger (right) side, beneath the gas tank shroud.
Appears to be mounted with 2 bolts. Appears simple enough.....(famous last words.)
I will see if I can take a pic.

 

Here are some pics of it. (hard to get the camera up there for a clear shot)
this is essentially looking straight up at it from the floor.
xf 009.jpg
xf 008.jpg
xf 007.jpg

 

Amberr.. could I get some cheese on that spam samich?

 

glad it is only the bracket that broke, much easier and cheaper to fix. The wire you are talking about is connected to a metal bracket that is used to hold the wire up and away from the tire and moving suspension parts by being bolted down to the same stud that holds one side of the sway bar bracket.

here is a thread and some other pics for comparison.
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...e-install.html

 

Thanks for the info. exactly what i was hoping to hear too... a simple repair!

 

The left bracket cracked through on one side and ripped from the panel on the other. This certainly shows they did not design the bracket strong enough to carry the loads from the sway bar properly. This is a stock sway bar and the car has 92000 miles. I was thinking of trying to get Chrysler to fix, but it seems others have gone down this path to no avail. It seems the best alternative would be to build a bracket to lay over the existing one and bolt it through the panel. Any ideas?
I find that the connection at the end of the sway bar is loose and also rattles. How do you tighten this?

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I just dont see where bolting a bracket to the panel it's already ripping from would resolve the issue..

 

As mentioned previously I think this needs a plate welded to the inside of the body, welded all around and better yet with holes in it that are also welded to spread the stress more evenly in the sheet metal. A new bracket would then be bolted to this doubler plate. The plate would be best welded to a substantial area as well if one is available in the immediate area.

This looks like a beetch of a job.

 

Looking at this view.. a 14 ga. stainless steel bracket... that fits over the oem bracket before the nuts go on. Would need to be obround slots to "roll" into place.. tighten bracket and then put in the self tapping screws...(self tapping screws into the "vertical" side here) Something along that line would at least add a little more stability to it. Especially if this is where it starts when it lets go.
Thoughts?



Just a quickie rendition here.. but you get the idea..

 

Self tapping screws are worthless for loads in sheet metal.

This problem should make you slow down over speed bumps.

 

I think it is going to take a lot more as far as bracing is concerned for the sway bar mount. I had mine up in the air this weekend and looked closely, no cracks yet. It does seem that there would be just enough room to slide a cross brace through the underside of sway bar mounting bracket all the way through to the other side mount to lock them both in. I think a 3/16" thick X 1 1/2" wide metal strap from side to side and then welded to the either the existing sway bar mount or new ones. This should tie the brackets together better. I think the big problem is not the vertical forces but the horizontal forces from side to side. I first saw this in Airescapes post with an i-phone tapped under the fender while driving. The sway bar moved side to side like crazy from what I had expected. This sounds like a job that MikeR could help out with once again. Where is Mike?

 

Well a C175 cat generator.. 16 cylinder quad turbo.. can't blow the screws loose on our louvers at the end of the radiator..

I'm thinking since it would be a "shearing effect" pull on them.. they are not going to be pulling the threads out.

 

I guess you missed the posts.. He was in a hunting accident a couple months back..

 

The shearing effect is worse, it distorts the thread in the sheet metal and the screw comes loose. There is only one way or two ways and they ain't easy.