Bent Pan Hard bar bracket. HELP please!

[awdseth]

Did some pretty hard wheelin this weekend and my pan hard bar bracket relocation & OEM bracket both bent downwards. The pan hard bar itself didn’t bend though. The bronco is driving completely normal right now and the alignment didn’t change. What do I need to do? Part number maybe to order? Only solution I have came up with is cutting and reeling back on?

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[GI_Jo_Nathan]

Hard for me to tell what's going on in your pic for some reason. But I looked at all of them and I believe the Fabtech is the strongest.

 

[awdseth]

Hard for me to tell what's going on in your pic for some reason. But I looked at all of them and I believe the Fabtech is the strongest.

I have the Fab tech relocation bracket already which is bent is downward slightly as well as the OEM bracket on the axle. Sorry that’s the only picture I have been able to take so far I’ll share more in a bit.

 

[Apollo]

It does not look like the relocations bracket is installed properly. The bar should be installed in the bracket not on the outside of the bracket, the spacer in the middle of the bracket should be installed in the lower original bracket location.

 

[Fordified1]

You may be able to put a jack under that and jack it up until it goes back into position and then unbolt the Panhard bar and install it correctly. That’s putting extra leverage on the bracket the way it’s mounted now.

 

[Brian_B]

It does not look like the relocations bracket is installed properly. The bar should be installed in the bracket not on the outside of the bracket, the spacer in the middle of the bracket should be installed in the lower original bracket location.

I'd say once you fix this, that little bit of an angle won't hurt anything since the bar will be back in-line with the bracket, as long as it can still articulate.

Can try to heat it up and beat/bend the original bracket on the axle housing back straight, but doesn't look like it's off by too much, but decent odds that you just make it worse. The real fix would be either a new rear end, or cut that bracket off and weld on a new one - and not sure I'd go welding on the axle tube willy nilly. If I recall, the pan hard installation point isn't sold separately and is welded to the axle tube, which also is not sold separately. You'd either need to fab a new one or go cut one off a donor axle, and at that point you are probably better off swapping parts into the doner rear axle housing than attempting surgery.

https://dml.dana.com/assetbank-dana/assetfile/76500.pdf?token=eyJhdXRoVG9rZW4iOiIifQ==&store=original

That aftermarket bracket - may be able to source another from them if you were so inclined.

 

[Fordified1]

I'd say once you fix this, that little bit of an angle won't hurt anything since the bar will be back in-line with the bracket, as long as it can still articulate.

Can try to heat it up and beat/bend the original bracket on the axle housing back straight, but doesn't look like it's off by too much, but decent odds that you just make it worse. The real fix would be either a new rear end, or cut that bracket off and weld on a new one - and not sure I'd go welding on the axle tube willy nilly. If I recall, the pan hard installation point isn't sold separately and is welded to the axle tube, which also is not sold separately. You'd either need to fab a new one or go cut one off a donor axle, and at that point you are probably better off swapping parts into the doner rear axle housing than attempting surgery.

https://dml.dana.com/assetbank-dana/assetfile/76500.pdf?token=eyJhdXRoVG9rZW4iOiIifQ==&store=original

That aftermarket bracket - may be able to source another from them if you were so inclined.

As a repair and fabrication Welder, I prefer to bend stuff back into position cold if I can, and leave everything bolted to it while attempting to straighten it. It doesn’t look like it’s bent very much, but the picture could be deceiving. Heating it would be my last resort short of cutting it off and welding it back on after straightening it, which will require at least a diff fluid flush and change afterwards. I also have to keep in mind, cutting anything off the axle tube itself and welding it back on distorts it a little.

If that Panhard bar had Johnny joints on it, I probably would not even try to straighten the factory bracket, just assemble the correction bracket and bar the way it’s supposed to be, and go on.

OP you need to really look close and make sure the bracket is not cracked before driving any more.

 

[Mikerider]

It does not look like the relocations bracket is installed properly. The bar should be installed in the bracket not on the outside of the bracket, the spacer in the middle of the bracket should be installed in the lower original bracket location.

Agree with this, the added leverage and lack of double shear may be your issue, from the fabtech site it looks like this should be installed inside the bracket not behind.

Do you have an aftermarket track bar also that swapped the location?

an option for replacement, Barnes sells a beefier bracket that you could weld on

https://barnes4wd.com/products/bronco-rear-axle-trackbar-bracket

 

[BigMeatsBronco]

Did some pretty hard wheelin this weekend and my pan hard bar bracket relocation & OEM bracket both bent downwards. The pan hard bar itself didn’t bend though. The bronco is driving completely normal right now and the alignment didn’t change. What do I need to do? Part number maybe to order? Only solution I have came up with is cutting and reeling back on?

Yep installed wrong.

My question is how did you get that 12-point Bolt that is so much longer on there without realizing that it was wrong? I mean that thing must be 3 in longer than the correct one?

 

[GI_Jo_Nathan]

I have the Fab tech relocation bracket already which is bent is downward slightly as well as the OEM bracket on the axle. Sorry that’s the only picture I have been able to take so far I’ll share more in a bit.

Maybe I'm just looking at it totally wrong or it's the angle or something. But that looks absolutely nothing like the Fabtech bracket I have.

Are you running an aftermarket bar on the outside of the bracket? I feel like the leveraged that would create would cause problems.

This is mine.

 

[dgorsett]

Maybe I'm just looking at it totally wrong or it's the angle or something. But that looks absolutely nothing like the Fabtech bracket I have.

Are you running an aftermarket bar on the outside of the bracket? I feel like the leveraged that would create would cause problems.

This is mine.

That looks real nice, for my info how mush lift do you have ?

 

[Mdsuits]

Agree with this, the added leverage and lack of double shear may be your issue, from the fabtech site it looks like this should be installed inside the bracket not behind.

Do you have an aftermarket track bar also that swapped the location?

an option for replacement, Barnes sells a beefier bracket that you could weld on

https://barnes4wd.com/products/bronco-rear-axle-trackbar-bracket

Well damn I just spent a bunch of time designing and building my own to replace the one I cut off when I went with the RK 4 link….Barnes would have been the easy route.

 

[Brian_B]

Well damn I just spent a bunch of time designing and building my own to replace the one I cut off when I went with the RK 4 link….Barnes would have been the easy route.

It looks good though!

 

[GI_Jo_Nathan]

That looks real nice, for my info how mush lift do you have ?

Approximately 2". If you don't count adding Badlands non-sas struts.

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