SWAY BARS!
Check it out, the rear sway bar is in! I still need to unbolt the axle connection so I can powder coat the sleeve between the bushings (you can see it in all it's crusty glory sandwiched between the link bushings), but the big story is that it's in! Of course, nothing is easy. I should have seen it before taking the frame in for powder coat, but three of the four bolt holes for the sway bar bushings had broken off bolts in them. And, of course, the easy out broke off in the bolt after drilling... so once I was able to get the easy out out, I drilled it out for the next size bolts.
Boy, that was an ordeal!
The front bushings, on the other hand, were easy! I just ran the tap through it to clear out any powder coat and bolted it up!
I think that little tidbit of red looks good too!
(EDIT -- Do you see the problem here? Now I do and it's obvious, but when I took these pics and started posting this, I wasn't sure what was wrong)
Both sides were easy!
BUT -- And there is always a but, isn't there! The end link holes don't seem to line up! The links would be at pretty sharp angle between the arm ends and the frame mounts. When I swing it all the way up, you can see that it's offset by about and inch. The offset is worse when it's lower (but doesn't show up as well in the picture). The frame link mount is also angled away from the bar end which makes the offset even worse.
And then... while writing this I wondered... does the bar go above the frame mount? I mean, that seems weird, but, stranger things have happened! You're not aware of this, but I stopped writing for a few minutes and went out back to check one of the other Patrols... Honestly, that is a big deal as they are surrounded by stuff and difficult to get close to! As it turns out, yep, that bar end goes ABOVE the frame mount.
So, at least it's a simple fix -- Unbolt, give the bar a little twist, then rebolt, and BOOM!
Gimme a minute...
Yep! That was it... just 10 minutes later, they are attached! Woo hoo!
Whew! That was a close call!
j
