Panhard Rod Won't Come Off

[greensmurf20]

does anybody know how to get that D*** sway bar off a GT? i can get the nut off the rear end and pop that end off just fine but i have the nut off the sway bar on the mount that connect to the car. i cant get the bolt out of the sway bar mount!!!! it wont thread out and i cant beat it out with a hammer. can anybody tell me how to get this thing out? looks like somebody pulled the car and wrapped a chain around it and its bent and now rubs on the exhaust. if i cant get it out i'll attempt to straighten it. any help would be great!!!!!!

[pvcar]

is the car up on stands when u are trying to remove the sway bar?? that could be part of the problem. or if u think its bent and u want to go the expensive way take a cutting torch to it and cut the sway bar in half and then order up a new one from gt source or other gt parts store and put a brand new one on. on my parts car the sway bar looks like it may have been tweaked at one time by the po but since i have never had to remove it.

[greensmurf20]

i didnt try to take the one out of my car i was tryin to remove one from both of my part cars and they were both the same way. so i assume my car will be the same. even if my sway bar comes out easy it does me no good because i still cannot get another one out of one of my part cars. i had the cars jacked up by the rear end but i had one end off both the cars so there was no tension or force on the end of the sway bar that connects to the car. when i try to turn the bolts out they just turn and do not thread out and i cant beat them out with a brass hammer or a 3lb sledge hammer. i'm lost .i can cut the sway bar in my car as long as i can get one sway bar without damaging it. i dont have the money to buy a new one from OGTS

[kwilford]

I think you may be talking about the "Panhard Rod", not the sway bar. GT's in North America didn't come from the factory with rear sway bars. Nor front sway bars for that matter. The Panhard rod locates the differential side-to-side, while a sway bar attaches at both ends of the differential and to the body, and reduces body lean during cornering. But I digress....

As for your problem, it is quite common. The Panhard rod is attached to the body with a 12 mm bolt, and the bolt seizes to the inner metal sleeve inside the rod bushing. What you have to do is cut off the bolt at both ends. You can do what I did, and torch off the the head and nut and then drill out the bolt a bit at each end to allow it to drop out of the bracket. Or you can cut the bolt INSIDE the body bracket with a reciprocating saw (use a metal cutting hacksaw-type blade). In either case you will need a new bolt, bushing and inner metal sleeve. Here's a picture of what it looks like once you cut off the bolt and get a new bushing and sleeve.

Be careful trying to straighten out the Panhard rod. It is hollow (yea, I know it is obvious but I had to say) and it "kinks" quite easily. Mine was bent (as I think many are, by people trying to tow them by the Panhard rod). I was able to straighten it be heating it red hot and then GENTLY bending it back in a bench vise. But I actually decided to just get an unbent rod, as it was still a bit kinked, and I had a good spare, care of Kathryn McCoy

HTH

[greensmurf20]

mine is bent pretty bad from the PO pulling it out of a ditch(obviousely he couldnt drive) luckely the car wasnt badly hurt. i think i could get a hold of a new nut and bolt off a part car somewhere. when taking the panhard bar off one of the part cars can i just cut one side of the mounting bracket or spread the bracket apart so i can reuse the bolt and bushing?(the car has all new suspension bushings)?

[kwilford]

Jared,

The bolt is a standard issue M12, and should be available from any decent bolt supply house. Which you need to become good friends with if you are planning on doing much work on your GT.

If you don't care what you do to the donor car, then just cut off the bolt head and nut and spread or cut the bracket to get the bar off. If the bolt is seized inside the bushing anything like mine was, you can forget about re-using the sleeve. Just push out the old bushing and sleeve and get new stuff. The bushings are available from OGTS for $12 per pair (both ends) for the rubber, and $16 for the Polyurethane (which was my choice). They also supplied a used sleeve for a couple of bucks.

HTH