Sway bar bushing cover sheered off

The wife was out driving and heard a sound and saw a part bounce in the street. Thankfully she stopped and grabbed the part. The cover holding on the bushing had its bolt sheered off. Im stumped how this could happen. I did install recovery points (see pic) but that was 2 years ago.

 

Does the cover show evidence of hitting something? If not, I would presume the bolt was over torqued and now let loose.

 

What we see in red, I take it, is the recovery point? Does the recovery point on the other side show any evidence of stress? Any pics of the part that bounced on the street?

 

Looks like a fatigue crack that's been progressing across the bolt for some time until the remaining intact area comprised less than one-third of the bolt, at which point it let go.

The failure could have been from overtorque or corrosion. Have you done recoveries with these?

 

Was the bolt a Toyota bolt or hardware store? The lighting makes the good bolt head look shinny.
My use to Toyota bolts makes me think they are high grade -perhaps grade 5 or higher. But they lack the head markings for identifying commercial fasteners.

 

^Head marking with single dot indicates OEM bolt. See: https://trail4runner.com/2023/07/05/true-north-fabrications-front-recovery-points-5th-gen-4runner/

 

No recoveries.

 

Yes. I used the OEM bolts.

 

the piece is the bushing cover. The other side looks perfect. Bolts are in great shape.

 

No damage to the cover. I’m now also wondering if I over torqued it.

 

That's more than a "cover". More like a "mount" that holds the bushing in place.

 

Agreed. It’s the cover to the bushing

 

That isn't a bushing cover. Its the mount that affixes the sway bar to the frame of the vehicle. The other end of the sway bar attaches to the suspension. Those bolts are in constant stresses from multiple directions as the suspension articulates.

Adding distance between the bushing mount and the frame, puts additional stress on those bolts. Those bolts are threaded the entire length, which have less sheer strength than a non threaded bolt.

 

? That goes over the bushing. Thankfully the bushing stayed in place. It’s a bushing bracket.

 

The technical term per Toyota is "stabilizer bracket".

At any rate, moral of the story, those bolts aren't rated for additional sheer load with the aftermarket recovery hooks, regardless if used for recovery.

 

You may want to consider removing the swaybar altogether. Many have done it and no issues. Will do you good offroading!

 

Could've also just been a bad bolt. It happens. Not every piece of hardware is 100% guaranteed not to fail. Add maybe a bit too much torque, voila.

 

The bushing is like $10 a set... Anyway, check the red recovery point bracket is able to sit flat against the frame rail. For example, if it's high-centered on a weld bead, the bolt would be subject to severe bending forces when you tighten it down.

 

Good catch realizing it broke off before driving further! Driving it in this condition will probably cause further damage, including breaking off the other sway bar mount, allowing to sway bar to shift around and hammer everything within reach.

The point several were making that this is not a cover, is not just semantics. It’s a structural mount, and it’s designed to deal with enormous stresses. I don’t think anybody is intending to give you a hard time…just clarification to explain what the part is actually doing. For example, I would drive all day long with a missing cover, but wouldn’t do the same if a structural part broke off.

3JOJ22A makes a great point about the recovery bracket possibly being in contact with a weld bead. Before replacing the sway bar mount, remove the recovery point and inspect the backside for witness marks. If it was in contact with that weld bead pictured near the end of the recovery point hardware, remove material from the recovery point using a flap wheel or file until it lays perfectly flat, and only then reinstalling the sway bar mount with two new bolts.

The bolts look to be stock. But it’s likely they are subjected to more (and different) forces than stock when they are sandwiching the recovery hardware. Lots of forces change when you change how parts interface. Truthfully, I would even go as far remove the paint from the recovery hardware, so there is no chance the paint’s softness allows it to be compressed. If it compresses, it will result in a loose bolt. A slightly loose bolt will eventually fatigue and break the same as an overtorqued bolt would, because any shifting will subject the bolts to bending forces it wouldn’t otherwise experience.

Hopefully you can sort this easily. It might be worth exploring any other recovery points options on the market, in case you find any new designs that avoid using those bolts. Those bolts have to put up with a lot, and their strength depends on a perfect interface with the mount bracket and the frame.

 

Yeah its all good, it was a semi easy fix. thankfully i had a good 1/4 inch of the broken bolt sticking out so i just grabbed it with a bolt extractor and it came right out. I am thinking i over torqued it.

 

great point.

 

if the other bolt didnt sheer off how did the bushing strap come off?

 

one side is a circle that the bolt goes in and one side is a V. The circle side is the one that sheered off so the V side probably held on as long as it could.

 

got it.

 

Might have worked loose and broke itself off. I have broken a bracket, but not a bolt if it was tight. Energy suspension has universal brackets and greasable bushings cheap. Convert your sway bar diameter from metric to standard and buy universals. The same thing with Toyota 4runner, Camry, Tundra with all be about the same except for being priced according to what is.