[Larry]

A sway bar resists leaning. That is its only function so unless you are planning to take curves at high rates of speed you aren’t even going to know the sway bar lacks a dog bone.

[Bill]

I just hope I don’t get in too much trouble!

Aren’t the dog bone things part of the bushing/bearing mechanism for the sway bar (anti-roll bar, stabilizer bar, call it what you want)? Without them isn’t there “abrasive metal on metal” between the sway bar and its pivot point as the coach rolls from side? Rather than the pivot point of the sway bar having a bearing of some kind so that as the coach leans from side to side or rolls from side to side the movement of the sway bar in its pivot point is smooth through some kind of a bearing?

I can’t visualize the sway bar mechanism right now, but in addition to the sway bar having movement as the coach leans or rolls from side to side, isn’t there quite a bit of movement of the sway bar in its pivot points as the front of the coach goes up and down on say an uneven road or approaching and coming off bridges that don’t have a smooth transition?

Or do I misunderstand what the dog bone is and what it does? I am very open to being corrected on this if I’m wrong.

[Chas]

The sway bar rolls in rubber bushings secured to the chassis. The dog bones with their bushings attach the ends of the sawy bar to the suspension. If the coach leans the sway bar twists to resist the lean. If the coach just goes up and down such as a speed bump it also pivots up and down.

If one end is unsecured it still goes up and down, but does not twist to resist the lean.

[George]

Thanks everyone. We are a bit concerned since the sway bar end is quite close to the air bag bottom. Not seeing how actively things move down, we were wanting to make sure if we drive a considerable distance with a single new dogbone or none at all, that nothing under there touches each other.

We do have new bolt washer and dogbone bushing being shipped. Not sure under the bus how we would press out the broken stud with the sway on the bus let alone dismantling it off the bus and fishing it out from underneath to take it to shop.

[Bill]

I twisted off the stud on the left side of my front sway bar a year or two ago. Not having the new parts on hand and leaving on a trip, I center punched the remaining stud and drilled and tapped it for a 1/2″ coarse thread. Got a short grade 8 bolt from Tractor Supply and put it together with some washers and new bushings. Held for a couple week trip. Was a bit tight drilling the stud, did it with the tire on. Would have been easy with the tire off. As long as your stud broke at the threads and not up in the fat part (likely) this should work. Most of the stress on the stud is vertical and even with the drilling and tapping of the threaded end it should have enough remaining strength, the greatest stress is where it leaves the sway bar, the nut and washer just keep the bushings from popping out. I found a photo of the temporary repair:

Regarding the eventual replacement of the stud, be sure you have the right one before tearing into it, there are several in the catalog. I removed sway bar, pretty easy with tires off and jacked up. Be sure to mark position of the level sensor clamp on middle of sway bar to simplify reassembly and not have to adjust level.

Was able to pound out old stud with large hammer and good bucking on the sway bar. Put new stud in freezer and quickly pressed it in on a 30 ton press and did not seem to be heavily working the press. Make sure you have it pointing in the right direction before pressing it in. Don’t ask how I know this – I got it right on this one but in the remote past I pressed some parts into place in the wrong direction. Then you have to get new parts because some parts don’t hold so well after multiple pressings and considering the deformation of the removed stud, this is one of them.