At that point it's broke isn't it.. this is just an idea of extra force to keep it from breaking.. not carry the load.

 

The twisting of the sway bar gives up and down forces even on the bracket at the wheel that does not go up or down, simple mechanics. The sway bar is trying to keep its unloaded shape at all times. The larger the sway bar diameter the greater the forces at all times. NA's should last longer all things being equal, as I doubt the brackets were reinforced more on the SRT's but I could be wrong on that.

 

I thought I would add to the data base here. 2004 w/ 117,000 miles. The mount completely ripped out on the driver side and is cracked on the passenger side. Welded in a plate to cover the hole in the body and also welded everything back underneath. On the right side, I just welded the crack since everything was still in one piece. Here is the picture before of the left side. Ugly.



Here is what it looks like repaired from the top. Welding is not pretty but better than a big hole with a loose sway bar slamming the body.

 

It would be interesting to see updated pics after 6 months - 1 year. Thanks for sharing the pics and repair job!

 

You are welcome. I feel pretty confident the repair will hold. It is much better than what was designed stock. Woefully inadequate.

 

Im sure your welds will still be intact but the heated metal around teh area might be the next weakest link. Almost impossible to control this effect. Good repair job!

 

I tend to agree, now the forces are localized along the welds. Admittedly the original was none too strong either.
The better method I would think would be to lay a larger piece of metal over the hole, weld the trimmed edges of the hole to the new metal, weld all around the new metal and weld around the inside of 1/2" diameter holes in this new doubler, maybe 6 to 8 of them depending on the size. The support would be welded to this new doubler it being maybe twice as thick as the body material.
This would spread the load into the material around the hole. It should work out to be stronger than the original.

 

What should it cost to have a mechanic replace/repair a broken sway bar in a 2004 Crossfire. I have received an estimate of 4800 dollars.

 

... uh if it's just the sway bar that needs to be replaced not more than about $700-800 for parts & labor. Not sure where they got $4800 from unless there's other damage...?

 

I see two issues where there should be none: The sway bar bracket cracking, and the area around where the sway bay attaches to the floor cracking and detaching it self from the floor. The steel (bracket material) is weak and cracks. The steel (floor material) is weak and cracks from stress applied by well attached brackets. It would say there is an issue with the material (steel) used to make the brackets and or floor sheet metal. The force (at the rubber bushing) on the sway bar should be simply rotational on an axis across the car. The OE sway bar has 2 pivot axes built into it to alleviate any other force, the pivot axis of the link at the control arm is lengthwise on the car and the pivot axis on the sway bar end of the link matches the sway bar bushing, across the car. Sway bar links that are shot to hell (severe binding) could change this equation somewhat. It would be interesting to see if the VINs of the cars affected are clumped together or not. If they were that would also point to a materials issue.

 

Well I'm now a member of the hole in the floor gang! Drivers side! What a pain! I find it hard to believe that this managed to get by the fatigue group...Oh well. I'd be interested if there were any factory recalls or notices on this issue. My car has had a very easy life, I'm surprised this happened. I design airplane structure and I have to say, it's a shockingly poor design. When I saw the bracket with the cracked out floor i couldn't believe that it wasn't a more substantial joint then that.
I guess I'm gonna have to find a body shop or a hot rod shop with an inventive mechanic! lol!! Definitely needs a large doubter of at least twice as thick material so there is some bearing capability and riveted or bolted on. Geez what a mess.
If anyone has any suggestions of a fix or a fabricator around Tulsa, please let me know!
Gracias!

 

Reminds me of my 78 Sunbird V8 (66 built). Was SwDiv SCCA champion in Solo II and after 100,000 miles of autocrossing the clutch had pushed theough the firewall, both front shock towers had broken out and the front lower A-arm had seperated from the body. I used to crack a right front Vega GT wheel (inspected after every run) and wear out 2 front tires every weekend (new tires started on rear one weekend and moved to front next). Only hard thing to find were the 7 1/2" posi units that broke regularly (stock class).


See Padgett's Sunbird Page. XF is not first car I've had with a granny low & needing a longer top gear.

 

My rear sway bar LH side retaining bracket just failed as well. I was wondering if anyone knows if it is a Mercedes part, or a Chrysler part, and if a Mercedes part, what the part number might be.
I can get a Mercedes part usually overnight, but here in Oz, Chrysler never to have anything in stock.
Cheers
Terry

 

Fixed, No cracks in the mounting bracket or floor sheet metal. Unable to obtain new bushings in Australia, and Chrysler Australia don't even have a stock code for it. Had to put second hand ones on, so I will order some new ones from the U.S.

I have a hunch of what may have made the bracket snap. 2 weeks ago I had new tyres installed on the rear, and the tyre shop I use always say you need to put 38-40 psi in the tyres for optimum wear. I always drop the pressure to 32-34 psi just so the car isn't shaken to bits.

Two days before the bracket snapped I checked the tyre pressure and it was at 45 psi, so I think the extra air pressure may have put extra stress on the poorly engineered sway bar mount.
Thats my 2 cents anyway.

As for Chrysler Australia not supporting the Crossfire, I am pretty pissed.
Last year I went to the local stealership to maybe order a new D handle mechanism for the Convertible, and they said its on back order, will cost $1500.00 and take 12 to 18 months to arrive!!.
Cheers
Terry

 

I was replacing my shocks last week and noticed that my sway bar brackets are broken and looks like they are being pulled away from the body. I recall M3's in the 90's also had issues with subframes ripping themselves apart.

Can any welder just spot weld this back together or has anyone found a permanent fix for this?

 

Wondering if the ones that are cracking look like the ones on the '08s?

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...edesigned.html

 

So yesterday I went under my car and took a look. The bracket on the passenger's side is completely broken and the driver's side is coming off slowly. Since this is my daily driver I'll probably will find a way to reinforce the current brackets instead of taking this to a shop to have the whole rear end taken out and rewelded.

 

what is the expert advise here weld and reinforce it? update with a better design? Let me know please I need to schedule a track day.

 

I took the car to my friend's Meiniki yesterday in San Antonio. No cracks, than he reenforced the chasy point where you guys been showing the cracks by welding it. He fixed the aligment issue I had, put on my new Eibach spacers and even cut the bolts to my custom size. Im impressed because my car is low and the shop owner even bought wood planks so my car would clear the ramks cost $150

 

Do you still have the pics? Do you remember what it cost to fix and did it hold?