No Drill/No Weld front Sway Bar Mounting Repair

I had my front right sway bar link rip this past month, so I went to replace the links and bushings this week, only to find that all of the welded nuts in the frame broke off when I tried to take the bolts out. There isn't a ton you can do about this, as there isn't a lot of access to the threads since they are buried in the frame, so I got the sawsall out and cut them off.

What you'll need (in my method) to repair this is the following:
Four M12x25-ish flange head bolts (zinc preferably)
Four Bolt retainers (there wasn't an M12 option at the HW store, so I used 1/2")
Four matching M12 flange nuts
Some kind of thin cutoff wheel setup (can be done with a power drill)
A magnetic retrieval tool (telescoping)

Step 1: cut slots in the bottom of the threaded end of each bolt:


Grab a set of bolt/retainer:

Using the magnetic retrieval tool, fish the bolt through the rear open hole (front shown in this one, but do the back first):

Putting sideways pressure on the shaft of the bolt, press on the retaining clip:

Now when you put the sway bar back, you can put some sideways pressure on the bracket to get the nuts at least started, then use a flat head screwdriver and a wrench to cinch the nuts down.

After this is installed, I would cover it with fluid film or some other product to keep it protected.

 

Good thinking !

 

why am i just learning about bolt retainers at 42 years old?? nice work!