• The site migration is complete! Hopefully everything transferred properly from the multiple decades old software we were using before. If you notice any issues please let me know, thanks! Also, I'm still working on things like chatbox, etc so hopefully those will be working in the next week or two.

sway rage

BillBoost37 said:
Tricks to help you.
Lower the rear of your subframe 2 inches for room to get into the bolts. You'll be done in 45 minutes.
Click to expand...

mk, this may seem like an obvious question. but how do you lower the subframe? is it just bolts that you can loosen up or do you have to take them out and let it down with a jack and all that bs?? and what all involved?

just askin for when i do my sway bar...i wanna do it in 45 minute :) but i've never ever messed with the frame so i ask now.
 


put car on jack stands, then put jack under back of cradle, in the middle, then back out the back bolts, 18mm, let them out 2 inches, lower the cradle to the bolts, leave jack under cradle, dont let the weight rest on the bolts.

then jack back up the cradle, and tighten the bolts back up, done.
 
seems easy enough. is there anything else you need to do? my concerns would be the axles, the rack and pinion, any wiring, and the dog bones.
 
i left my bones hooked up, the only thing i guess would be the shaft to the rack, (steering shaft), dont want to drop it to much, while its still bolted up, as when you drop it its going to stretch open, and you dont want to bind or bend it.

2 inches should be more than enough room to be safe, and get the firewall side bolt off the sway bar bushing cap.
 
the caps that hold the sway bar in place, on the cradle, thats why your dropping the cradle, to get to the back bolts easier, driver side has a chit load of tubing running right by the bushing cap. and its tight to the fire wall.

if you got a ratcheting box wrench you could just go at it that way too, theres not to much room for a socket to get the back bolt.
 


yeah yeah okay i see what you're talking about, just the way you phrased it.

but just to clarify, dropping it 2 inches won't harm the steering shaft mechanism you referred to??
 
2 inches should be ok, you wont need more room than that.

i may be doing this tomorrow too, if i can get a bar cheap enough, axle and sway bar, ive been rolling with out a sway bar at all for month now, and its getting old. the wet sponge feel that is.
 
thanks for the tip guys about using teflon tape. Im gonna install my Dorman bar next week so the advice is very useful to me
 


You can lower about 3-4 inches w/o any worries of pulling stuff or hurting anything. Which is why I always say 2-3. Keep it safe.
 
Just do some checks before jacking the frame back up when you're done. Check to make sure the steering rack shaft is still connected before jacking the frame back up. You can feel the shaft in the boot (bellow or whatever that one is called). If you do drop it too far and the shaft becomes disconnected, it shouldn't damage anything, but it's a pain to get it back in there. Probably best to have someone in the car slowly rocking the steering wheel, but not more than an 1/8 of a turn. It has to be dead on accurate since there's hardly any slop.
 
RegalGS98s said:
Just do some checks before jacking the frame back up when you're done. Check to make sure the steering rack shaft is still connected before jacking the frame back up. You can feel the shaft in the boot (bellow or whatever that one is called). If you do drop it too far and the shaft becomes disconnected, it shouldn't damage anything, but it's a pain to get it back in there. Probably best to have someone in the car slowly rocking the steering wheel, but not more than an 1/8 of a turn. It has to be dead on accurate since there's hardly any slop.
Click to expand...

i was waiting for the worst part of the rack replacement witch i thought would be getting the shaft back on the rack, it wasn't that bad, i used a long ass screw driver, and pulled the shaft to the box, while a friend wiggled the wheel, went right on, i was amazed!
 
scottydoggs said:
i was waiting for the worst part of the rack replacement witch i thought would be getting the shaft back on the rack, it wasn't that bad, i used a long ass screw driver, and pulled the shaft to the box, while a friend wiggled the wheel, went right on, i was amazed!
Click to expand...

You were lucky or else the shaft was somehow worn, first time I had the rack off the Regal, I was by myself so I had one hand gripping the steering column shaft and the other holding the steering rack up. I was at it for hours till I got really mad and turned into the Hulk, lol. It went right on then. The damn thing just wouldn't line up. They left hardly any space in there for your hands when trying to align the shafts. Now I have my girl turn the steering wheel. Much easier.
 
RegalGS98s said:
You were lucky or else the shaft was somehow worn, first time I had the rack off the Regal, I was by myself so I had one hand gripping the steering column shaft and the other holding the steering rack up. I was at it for hours till I got really mad and turned into the Hulk, lol. It went right on then. The damn thing just wouldn't line up. They left hardly any space in there for your hands when trying to align the shafts. Now I have my girl turn the steering wheel. Much easier.
Click to expand...

i eye balled up my old rack and the new one making sure i got the racks nub the same way as the old one, all it took was the little wiggle on the wheel and it slid on. i took my shaft off before i dropped the cradle too, dont know if that helped me or not, when i jacked the cradle back up the shaft was waiting for the rack lol
 


GS98...I'm not sure how..but somehow..I'm sure that's the hard way.

I've only had one pull out when doing work on a car and that was a very loose one that wouldn't hold up a fly. Slid right back in when aligned properly. Sounds like you have a good girlfriend... at the time I didnt.
 
since on the topic of droping the cradle...
someone told me that if you loosen the cradle then you well need an alignment?..im guessing that if your careful and dont move it around to much then you should be ok
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top