Sway Bar Bushings Questions
 

I should have done the replacement when I upgraded to ER units. However......

My next project is the replacement of my rear and front sway bar bushings. Can both front and rear bushings be replaced without touching the A-Arms? I just had my car corner balanced and aligned and do not want to spend another greenbacks.

Are polys better than rubber? I thnk my units are the original ones; once I install the new ones, will be see a noticeable difference?

Thanks.




p.s.,

Yes I have searched. On a side note, how does one search the exact string "sway bar bushing" as one whole string? I have attempted to use quotes, double-quotes without success?

Your input would be helpful as it gets cumbersome when you get results gazillion of threads containing just "sway" or "bar" or "bushing".

This is my opinion having replaced all my rubber bushings on my 85.

The rear is a pice of cake.

The front bushings on the bar are not hard and doable.

The front bar ends will be near imposable.

However, I think someone said they had done it but I just do not see how it is possable with the shape of the front bar.

If I had spent a fortune having the car corner balanced and aligned, I would just spring for a new through the trunk bar and cut the old bar loops on the a arm out.

Rubber bushs will be the most street friendly. Hard plastic is a bit old school. The newer sway mounts are metal and some type of friction surface or metal bearing links.

I have searched for that link and could not find it (unless you and I are in a wishful-thinking mode).

The only way I could see that done is to push one end forward and pull the other back at the same time.

Would require a lot of pressure and or somthing very slippery on the bar (soap or?).

I still dought it can be done.

One other idea I had was to cut off the metal loops. Then weld them to a nut. Drill a hole up form the bottom of the a arm so can be reattached.

Could add washers under it if needed to adjust to keep preload out of sway like done w an adjustable drop link.

Just to update and close this thread........

Yes, it is possible to replace the front bar bushings without disturbing the alignment. For clarification purposes, I did it while replacing my revalved-sports Bilstein shocks with HD shocks. While the shocks were out, I decided to replace the front sway bar bushings.

And yes.......the car drives a lot better with new rubber bushings.

Now I need to find out what to do with my sports shocks. Those suckers were too stiff for me on Los Angeles streets........... and, I am very very very happy with the Bilstein HD versions.