rear sway bar drop link bushings

[aclapp]

How in heaven's name do you replace the plastic drop link bushings on the factory rear sway bar (without destroying the bushing)? Boiling water was suggested to soften them, but they don't soften much and I still can't cram the end into the ring. Any simple solutions?

[Rich Hilgersom]

Use a small ring clamp (about 50 cents at a hardware store). Place the bushing in the clamp and tighten as best you can. The hole side of the bushing should be flush with the clamp.
Then position the ring clamp over the droplink hole and tap the bushing with a hammer. The lip of the bushing will enter the hole. Remove the ring clamp carefully and tape the bushing in the rest of the way.

The first time took me 20 minutes. The second took me 5 minutes.

Best of luck
-Rich Hilgersom

[surfcity914]

i used a large pair of slip lock pliers.
took me 30 seconds each side. make sure to put a rag or something between the pliers and the bushing so as not to damage it. line everything into place, and clamp it together. it should snap right in.

[Enrique]

...and lube it.

[aclapp]

"Use a small ring clamp..." Do you mean a hose clamp? I tried that and it distorts the bushing too much (makes an oval). Can you be more specific? Like a band clamp that is solid all around?

Thanks,
ABC

[oredith]

when i did mine.. i lubed up the end a bit, mated the pieces up, and stuck it in a table vice (vise? brain not functioning right now). Even with a big table vice, i couldn't easily get the bushing in. the sidewall of the bushing just distorted to a donut. i then took a flathead screwdriver (while it's still in the vice) slowly worked my way around the edge pushing the barbed lip into the linkage. You can slowly work the vice tighter while doing this too, but it stops doing any good at one point, until you get the whole lip in there. it's all downhill from there, just clamp the vice down and it'll slip right through. i found the easiest way to attach the linkage back onto the sway bar was just to use a C-clamp, the bigger the better since they usually have a bigger gripping surface.

good luck, HTH

Jeff

[Rich Hilgersom]

Yes, its also called a hose clamp. You need to make the clamp as round as you can get it
and place the end of the bushing FLUSH with one end of it. It will distort the bushing a bit. Its a bit of trial and error.

A note on lubes..
Any teflon bushing, that is not covered with a boot, should not be lubed or greased because it will attract dirt to the bushing later on.