W124 anti roll bar bracket keeps snapping in half?

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shaunk_22

New Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
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22
Location
Fife, Scotland
Car
Mercedes 230CE & Seat Toledo V5
W124 230CE, last week the front anti roll bar bracket on the drivers side snapped clean in the middle. Any idea as to why this happened? As its abit of a mystery to me. Could it be that the tracking is off and the wheels are toed out?
 
You say "keeps snapping" - has it happened more than once?

I've had one of the mounts snap - the thin hanger. I replaced it and never thought about it again

Nick Froome
 
It seems a common fault. I've had two go on past cars both at the bend where the reinforcement plate ends. First one I replaced but got bored when the second on went and welded it up. Seemed to be OK and outlasted the rest of the car.

rollbar001.jpg


You can see the fractures starting in this pic.

rollbar004.jpg




.
 
Hi
one of mine broke last winter, during a really cold snap, cracked just above the bottom mounting hole.
ARB bushes needed doing, wondered if that makes it more likely to snap?
 
Last edited:
Hi
one of mine broke last winter, during a really cold snap, cracked just above the bottom mounting hole.
ARB bushes needed doing, wondered if that makes it more likely to snap?

balge - Your photo is spot on, exactly the same as mines. It seems to me like these brackets are far too weak to withhold the strain of the cars body roll. I'm going to have a look at it tommorow, see if I can maybe weld the new bracket for extra strength.
 
The ARB will be doing more work as the springs and dampers wear out, but also the bracket will be corroded and as Druck shows, fatigued.
 
It seems to me like these brackets are far too weak to withhold the strain of the cars body roll

It doesn't "withhold the strain" - it's a hanger and, in theory, it's under no load at all. In practice I think there will be a little bit of compression & tension which it is tough enough for

If the bush doesn't rotate on the ARB smoothly there will be a bit of rotation of the sleeve at the base and that will flex the bracket and tend to make it fail

I think a service life of 15-18 years is good enough

Nick Froome
 
I think bolide's comments hint at the likely cause.

the bush bolts should NOT be done up tight.

they should be a low torque of approx 20 Nm (15 lb ft)

the bar must be able to move/slide within the bushes.

There was a modified hanger from May 1989 for stability reasons.

Also are you sure the hanger is fitted facing the correct way.
 
yes dont tighten the bracket bush mounts too much.

also only tighten up (to specified torque) any of the 4 bush mounts once the wheel are sitting on the ground, not when the wheel is jacked up.
 
Thank you for the help guys, it turns out, its believed to have been an original bracket so probably snapped due to age. Also, I should have been more clear. After the bracket snapped I took it to my local garage where the mechanic welded it together for me, it then snapped, again, after 5 days, as it was tightened up too much. However, I now have a good secondhand bracket that I got from a friend, that I shall fit myself to the correct torque, when I get the car back.
At the moment its in the garage getting the rear end rebuilt with new arms, bushes, pipes and some welding done too. Not sure if I mentioned it but I had been getting a loud clunk coming from the OSR when putting it into drive. I was amazed to find that the clunk, was the subframe mounting point which was completely rotten right through. My amazment was emphasised by the fact that the guy I bought it from only 4 months ago had put it through its last 2 MOT's with no faults and no advisories at all. A tip to avoid Annandale Coachworks, if any. But, I'll have a go at getting some photos put up in for those who may be interested in seeing the amount of work being carried out. Thanks again.
 
All very interesting. Mine has failed a few times now. I have a welder so easier to reweld than replace.
My history, I did have the lower ball joint fail which made quite a mess of things so I wasnt surprised when the bracket broke shortly after the repair. welded back together i too assumed it is just a hanger. that weld broke but frankly it should have since we butt welded the break.
I rewelded with a plate over the butt. a week later the bracket broke again but this time in the middle of the clamp that wraps around the ARB.

I havent got round to refitting it, Car handling like a speed boat at the moment.
So I searched and found the advice above. every time I refitted it so far I lifted the car on a jack. sounds like thats my mistake?
I assume I need to do all the bolts up with the roll bar loaded.
 
All very interesting. Mine has failed a few times now. I have a welder so easier to reweld than replace.
My history, I did have the lower ball joint fail which made quite a mess of things so I wasnt surprised when the bracket broke shortly after the repair. welded back together i too assumed it is just a hanger. that weld broke but frankly it should have since we butt welded the break.
I rewelded with a plate over the butt. a week later the bracket broke again but this time in the middle of the clamp that wraps around the ARB.

I havent got round to refitting it, Car handling like a speed boat at the moment.
So I searched and found the advice above. every time I refitted it so far I lifted the car on a jack. sounds like thats my mistake?
I assume I need to do all the bolts up with the roll bar loaded.

I think you mean unloaded (nil tension) with all wheels on ground.
 
The bit only cost £19.87 new from MB when one of mine went within the last two years. Hardly worth the fag of repairing.
 

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