So today I tried to put on a stiffer front sway bar, but as I was trying to remove the endlinks I managed to strip the hex key on the tip of the passenger's side endlink bolt.


So now I still have my stock front sway bar on...only it's pretty loose on that side now, and i can't tighten it because the bolt (and nut) will spin freely without the hex bit holding it in place.

Any recommendations for a shop that can fix this, preferably in Harford County (since I work at APG)?

From my understanding the car is still driveable, but I'll have to corner slowly to prevent loading up the front sway bar.

 

That happened to me too. I just used some needle nose vise grips to keep it the threads from rotating while using an open ended wrench to take off the nut. If that doesn't work you can use a 3" pneumatic cutoff tool, body saw or a sawzall if you can fit it up in there to just cut it off.

 

Thanks for the tips.
I tried using needle nosed pliers to hold the threads but I'm not man enough to hold'em. I don't have any of the tools you mentioned. This looked at first to be a simple enough job for me, but now it isn't.

 

I think the key is that they need to be needle nosed vise-grip pliers. They have a lot of leverage and stay locked once you get them where you want them. Minimal man-handling required.

 

I think the key is that they need to be needle nosed vise-grip pliers. They have a lot of leverage and stay locked once you get them where you want them. Minimal man-handling required.
[/quote]

Gotcha. Sounds like a neat tool to have. Today was my last full day to do it before Saturday's season opening Autocross though, so I'm gonna have a shop take care of it.

 

I think the key is that they need to be needle nosed vise-grip pliers. They have a lot of leverage and stay locked once you get them where you want them. Minimal man-handling required.
[/quote]

Gotcha. Sounds like a neat tool to have. Today was my last full day to do it before Saturday's season opening Autocross though, so I'm gonna have a shop take care of it.
[/quote]

Thats never a bad idea either. Good luck and I'll see you next weekend in frederick. Hopefully the current forecast holds out.

 

I think the key is that they need to be needle nosed vise-grip pliers. They have a lot of leverage and stay locked once you get them where you want them. Minimal man-handling required.
[/quote]

Gotcha. Sounds like a neat tool to have. Today was my last full day to do it before Saturday's season opening Autocross though, so I'm gonna have a shop take care of it.
[/quote]

Thats never a bad idea either. Good luck and I'll see you next weekend in frederick. Hopefully the current forecast holds out.
[/quote]

 

Try some heat to loosen the link.

 

Vise grips is the tool that you need, as suggested.
You can drive around with the end link loose like that, nothing bad will happen; just don't go racing
I work at APG as well btw. You know that there is a shop on base that you can use to work on your own cars there? I believe that it's like 8$/hour; less if you are active military. Oh, and they have all the tools and lifts