OK,
so I changed the front sway bar bushings by myself.
I was desparate to find pictures of them before I started the job and couldn't find many, so I took a couple of pics - just for visual. This is not a how-to or the best, easy and fast way to do the job
First - I didn't remove the subframe, nor the sway bar links.
I did it from the side - jacked the car, removed the wheel and worked from the wheel well.
My Mazda 5 is from Canada - spent there 3 years of harsh winter conditions, later on being not driven for couple of years - this leads to every single bolt underneath the car being badly corroded.
That's why i was not able to unscrew the two bolts with my small 1/4" ratchet.
Perhaps a 3/8" ratchet would be best to use, but I didn't have one and still doubt if it would be enough to apply the brute force needed to unscrew the bolts even to the last few threads.
So I used my 1/2" ratchet that is big for the space around the bushings, but was useful for the amount of force needed.
Driver's side seemed to me the easier one, because I was able to use the ratchet for the rear bolt easier.
I unscrewed the front bolt with a standard 14mm socket through the gap between the sway bar and the tie rod - the steering wheel was fully turned to the left.
Here is how it looks:
The red arrow points to the front bolt, green arrow to the rear one
I was able to turn the ratchet only a couple of 'clicks' and used immense force for every turn.
For the rear bolt I used a universal joint and standard 14mm socket, looks like this:
Again - red arrow front bolt, green arrow - rear (behind the sway bar)
After half of the bolt unscrewed I had to change the universal joint to a deep 14mm socket, because the ratchet was hitting the brake servo grommet.
After that replaced the bushing, greasing it thoroughly with white lithium grease, cleaned the bolts and applied anti-sieze throughout all the threading.
Screwed the bolts back by hand all the way down and tightened them down by hand with my small 1/4' ratchet - I hope that the next time they need replacing will be a lot easier to unscrew them.
This bushing took me about an hour - I know - rediculous amount of time, but that's my way - slow
with this kind of rust and gunk on the bolts
Proceeded to the passenger side:
Again the front bolt was the easier one - turned the steering wheel fully to the right.
Used the 1/2" ratchet with standard 14mm socket.
The rear bolt was the hardest one - I used 1/2" ratchet with adjustable head with 14mm deep socket.
Here's how it looks :
Again - red arrow - front bolt, green arrow - rear bolt (behind the sway bar)
These bolts needed brute force to unscrew all the way to the end.
After removing them, greased the bushing, cleaned the bolts, applied anti-sieze, and lots of it, tighten them back by hand with my small 1/4" ratchet,
Here's how it looks:
With the white grease around the bushing and using the smal ratchet with short extension.
I used OEM Mazda rubber bushings.
All in all I used a lot of time, but the satisfaction at the end of the day of changing these by myself is worth it
