Reply to "Rear Sway Bar Braket Nuts Stripped?"

Wow it's nice to see that I am not the only owner of a 72 who needs to do the EXACT SAME THING. Joe they made forums for Pantera owners to comiserate about their cars (we need a "don't do this" section). I hate to say it but as I read this thread I started to laugh when I got to Larry's comments (sorry Larry I know that's heartless) because the same damn thing happened to me but I snapped off two of my studs when the nut that was spinning on the tightening mode(like yours Joe) started to cross thread as I tried to back it off. Holy crap those studs must be made of coat hanger wire(and I'm being generous). Of the four, I have two snapped off and a bent one...just turning with a ratchet using very little torque. I swear some of the stuff done on the Pantera makes me wish the car had been made in China or Korea, some of it might have been an improvement. What were the Italians thinking using studs this soft? Larrys solution to get a nut on the back of the new stud is a great idea, but I would not rely on just the rounded head to hold after taping...the head is made of the same crap the bolt is made of and what remains can't be that thick.

My car is having wheel house repairs done right now and all four of those sway bars studs will be replaced with much higher quality steel by my fabricator. I had thought about making a 1/4" steel plate that had countersunk bolts(tack welded to keep them from spinning), poking out of the 1/4" piece of steel fashioned to cover the old mounting surface of the sway bar mounts. Just saw off the old studs or knock them through as my fabricator has and weld the plate on over the existing brack/stud face. My fabricator had a similar idea to Larrys but I'm not sure what he has planned. I'll make sure he takes pictures and I'll post them.