front sway bar question

[mellon247]

hey how do i unscrew the screws that hold the front sway bar thats sunderneath the car?. i want to take it off and lube the bushings. so anyone plz send me a pm. thank you.

 

[stdntDrvr]

there are 2 brackets on the bar. there are 2 bolts that hold the brackets on. just take those bolts out, pull off the bracket, take the bushing out and apply your grease. the brackets are kinda close to the center of the bar.

hope that helps!

 

[army26m]

The dealer in MD wanted 550 to replace the front sway bar bushings. Said they had to lift the engine, remove the lower plate, Seams excessive to me.
With time and effort can you just remove the bushing brackets only and put new bushings in and get the brackets back on without major troubles?

 

[stdntDrvr]

15-20 minutes? i did it in my driveway one night...it really isn't hard at all...just locate the brackets and take out the 4 bolts holding the 2 brackets in...and of course the bushing is split in the middle to slide over the bar.

 

[army26m]

cool thanks, I wasnt sure if there was any pressure on the bar that would cause it to move once brackets were removed and not be able to get the bracket back on.

 

[apexlater]

The dealer in MD wanted 550 to replace the front sway bar bushings. Said they had to lift the engine, remove the lower plate, Seams excessive to me.
With time and effort can you just remove the bushing brackets only and put new bushings in and get the brackets back on without major troubles?

Wow, $550 for new sway bar bushings....sweet.

It is a very easy affair, just drive the car up onto some ramps (or put it on jack stands). I will say that it can be tough to put the bar back on since the endlinks pre-load the bar, so it takes some "persuasion" (I used my knee) to get the bar/bracket lined up for the bolts.

 

[OLYMP3]

Let me warn you ahead of time that locating the upper bolt hole of the brackets and lining up the threads might be a pain. If you have small hands it will be easier. It is quite cramped under there. It took me at least 15 minutes just trying to not cross thread the bolt.

Also there is no need to remove the sway bar from the endlinks if you are just replacing bushings. Like APEXLATER said it can be a pain to re-install.

 

[army26m]

No one around here seams to have greasable bushings that fit the MP3. Dealer and NAPA are the only ones that have anything and theyre the OEM bushings. checking to see where you guys might have gotten yours

 

[stdntDrvr]

i hate to say this, but do a search. i remember a while back someone had ordered greasable bushings from a website. it's been a year or two ago...but they are out there...they even posted which bushings to get.

 

[stdntDrvr]

hell, here's the link...i found it.

http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34025&highlight=greasable+bushings