As you may or may not know, I recently picked up a 2001 Roush Stage 2 for a killer price. In the deal, the TR3650 was to be replaced. Give that notion and the fact there was a lot of snow, salt, and sand down during the bitter cold last week (temperatures down to around 16F below zero), I trailered the car to get it to the tech’s location for the transmission replacement.
The rear strap went over and across the top of the pumpkin—no biggie. The front strap, however (much to my chagrin) was laced around the front sway bar. The wheels of the car were chocked in the rear, car was placed in 1st gear (new transmission coming anyway, I figured), and the emergency brake was set.
Here comes the bad part…the car still moved backward somehow, I think as a result of the hilly terrain crossing through the town where the tech was located. The movement backward pulled the front sway bar (aftermarket, installed by Roush) into a “rotated forward” position. If you viewed it as a clock position from the driver’s side, it now points toward the 7 or 8 o’clock position as opposed to the correct 6 o’clock position it did before the car was trailered.
My question, without having pulled the wheels off and checking directly (I don’t have my jack and stands in my garage—they are a distance away still), is anything damaged? I think, best I can tell that the urethane bushings are OK, but I’m worried about the position of the end link on the driver’s side. I didn’t check the passenger side yet, but I think the one on the driver’s side might be bent back (as result of the sway bar itself being rolled “upward” pushing the links of the bar down/backward.
I have some images in this post as well. Ignore the salt/dirt/etc underneath the car please—this car was just rescued from being driven on the nasty roads, it’s cold out, and I have not had the chance to get underneath to clean it.
What could have been damaged from the sway bar rolling up like this? Bushings? End links?
Do you think that the end links rubbed the springs when I drove it home? I hope not. They are painted quite nicely, albeit needed a big cleaning.
Thanks, everyone.
The rear strap went over and across the top of the pumpkin—no biggie. The front strap, however (much to my chagrin) was laced around the front sway bar. The wheels of the car were chocked in the rear, car was placed in 1st gear (new transmission coming anyway, I figured), and the emergency brake was set.
Here comes the bad part…the car still moved backward somehow, I think as a result of the hilly terrain crossing through the town where the tech was located. The movement backward pulled the front sway bar (aftermarket, installed by Roush) into a “rotated forward” position. If you viewed it as a clock position from the driver’s side, it now points toward the 7 or 8 o’clock position as opposed to the correct 6 o’clock position it did before the car was trailered.
My question, without having pulled the wheels off and checking directly (I don’t have my jack and stands in my garage—they are a distance away still), is anything damaged? I think, best I can tell that the urethane bushings are OK, but I’m worried about the position of the end link on the driver’s side. I didn’t check the passenger side yet, but I think the one on the driver’s side might be bent back (as result of the sway bar itself being rolled “upward” pushing the links of the bar down/backward.
I have some images in this post as well. Ignore the salt/dirt/etc underneath the car please—this car was just rescued from being driven on the nasty roads, it’s cold out, and I have not had the chance to get underneath to clean it.
What could have been damaged from the sway bar rolling up like this? Bushings? End links?
Do you think that the end links rubbed the springs when I drove it home? I hope not. They are painted quite nicely, albeit needed a big cleaning.
Thanks, everyone.
Hopefully they are not bent and lookin at that second pic again, they don't appear to be, but without seeing them in person it's a little hard to tell. IF they are bent, that wouldn't be the end of the world. ALL 94-04 Mustangs have the same style sway bar bushing bracket. They are a two peice. The lower brackets holds the bushing, the top peice just holds it in.
