on my 89 sr5 ext cab 4x4 I noticed that the stablizer bar bushings are bad actually almost gone. So I went and bought the rebuild kit. I have never replaced them before on anything. Is there any special tricks? Or can I just unbolt it and replace them? any info would be great. I figured they would be rusted bad and I would have a hard time getting the bolts out to replace them so I have been soaking them in pb blaster for a couple of weeks now. How big a job is it??PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you live in the South or South west or the dry part of California not to hard.

If have had all the bolts snap or the welded nuts in the frame break loose.

A 30 minute job turns into several hours.

Like all else plan for the worse.

 

Bar to frame are really easy to do. Remove two bolts. Install bushing on bar. Install bushing keeper, and reinstall two bolts on each side. Note that 2wd and 4wd antisway bars are different diameters and require different sized bushings. I like the Raybestos professional line. I used some spray silicone (or dialectric/silicone grease works too) to lubricate bar and bushings before installing.

The end links I had to jack up and allow tire to droop to be able to get the bolt installed thorugh my lower control arm. Otherwise, very straight forward. I went with the Deeza ones as they were cheap, but the nuts provided were oval instead of round, so had to make a trip to the hardware store to replace those... Except for the nuts, Deezas end links work great.

 

If it looks like this leave it off. You would probably never tell the difference.

 

Well, these trucks were made before all of those Ford Explorers flipped in the late 90s/early 2000s and Ford got sued for big bucks, so despite now all vehicles having overengineered anti-roll technology, ours only have the anti-sway bar. So if not going offroad or needing extra travel, I'd just leave it on and functioning. Sure beats flipping your rig on a tight highway turn b/c of going to quickly... There's also quick disconnect end links, but they're at least 5x the cost of stock so only needed/justifiable if going severe offroad/crawling and needing max wheel travel...

 

^^^^^ good point, it is there for a purpose......

 

Tuef,

Note that it's just your end links, not the whole sway bar that needs replaced. Take a 2+ lb sledge to that rusted stud, and it should pop out. Then just reinstall. Definitely use anti-seize on the threads before putting that final bolt on.

 

RSR thanks for the reply. I know have an SAS. I thought I would add what I did when I had IFS.

 

wow that turned out nice, your poor dog is gonna need a stepping stool to get in!

 

Oh he's in the big dog house in the sky. RIP Sam.

 

aww