Trackbar bracket issues...

[ert01]

In the fall my trackbar was making some odd sounds... I took it apart and found that the hole on the axle side bracket was slightly ovalled from the bolt being loose. I figured since I was lifting it, I'd just redrill a new hole and be done with it. So I did just that and it's been fine up until recently. I noticed that it started making sounds again and last night I found that the bolt had come loose again and ovalled my "new" hole. So now I have 2 oval holes...

I'm drawing a blank on how to fix this... The two options I see are:
1) weld a new piece of steel on overtop of the holes and drill through it

Or
2) redrill it again in another spot.

I thought that in the meantime I'd just redrill it again but I'm out of room...

The Yellow and Red holes are the oval ones. The big circle represents the end of the trackbar and the small one is the hole in case that wasn't clear...

As the picture shows, I can't drill in the third spot cause there's not enough metal around it. So I guess I have to weld. Or are there other options? Because I certainly don't feel good enough to weld this... I have a decent arc welder but I don't think I would trust myself to weld such a critical component.

Any ideas? Are there any products out there that would help me out?

 

[sixer]

Hello;

yes welding over it and drilling a new hole is the best bet.
If you so a search there were some articles on this subject...
JEEP_THE_PLANET

 

[TomH]

I think I would weld washers on the bracket.

 

[HaleYes]

Cut a piece that covers the whole side of the bracket. Basically, plate the outside of it. I used 1/4" and plated mine and drilled a hole throught it. Make the hole no bigger than is necessary. (ie: you want the bolt to fit tight in the hole) You'll just need a longer bolt.
That's what I did and it's held up great. I did do it before it got really ovaled out though.

Not really much you can do for the inside other than cut the whole thing off and fab a new one.


HTH

Hale

 

[PornstaR]

Cut a piece that covers the whole side of the bracket. Basically, plate the outside of it. I used 1/4" and plated mine and drilled a hole throught it. Make the hole no bigger than is necessary. (ie: you want the bolt to fit tight in the hole) You'll just need a longer bolt.
That's what I did and it's held up great. I did do it before it got really ovaled out though.

Not really much you can do for the inside other than cut the whole thing off and fab a new one.


HTH

Hale

X2 ............... the rest (welding washers, and welding up) will break and cause more problems.

 

[ert01]

Thanks guys I'll look at plating it with 1/4" tomorrow night after work. I have a longer bolt already and I have steel and I have the skills to make the plate but welding that thing still freaks me out a bit... I'm pretty new to welding. I did a winch plate just fine but it was all 1/4" steel and I could sit that on my bench and work on it standing up so it was pretty easy... this will be a bit more challenging I think underneath my rig...