2007~2015 CX-9 Front sway bar bushing replacement difficult?
- Thread starter kornholio
- Start date
I did the hard way the first time because as others have said there is not much room in there. The "easy" way (LOL I know it's not really easy it's a PITA).
1. Put the car on Jackstands and remove the front wheels.
2. Put a jack under the engine or suitably support it then remove the after bolt on the torque strut.
3. Disconnect the stabilizer links from the stabilizer bar.
4. Remove the intermediate exhaust pipe section from the Y-Pipe to the muffler.
5. Put a jack under the after part of the fwd sub-frame to support it..
6. Loosen the fwd subframe fasteners but leave on (19 mm nut).
7, Remove the 19 mm nuts from the mid-subframe.
8. Removed the 2 triangle plates at the rear of the subframe (19 mm and 17 mm).
9 Using your jack slowly lower the rear subframe just enough to access the stabilizer bar clamps and no more. If you go much lower you would have to disconnect the steering shaft and the ball joints. You can safely lower the rear end of the subframe a few inches to access the bolts. Your steering wheel shaft has a floating spline that will accommodate a few inches of movement without a requiring disconnect, just keep an eye on it.
10. Change you bushings..
11. Reassembly is the same process reversed. Torque the subframe fasteners to 95 ft/lb.
I did it the hard way the 1st time. I just changed my steering rack on my 2012 CX9 and had to remove the stabilizer bar. It takes about 45 min to lower the subframe and about 1 hour to reassemble it all using using an impact gun and power watchet. You will need 2 exhaust gaskets for re-assembly (1 Flange and 1 crush) Auto-zone had the gaskets in stock, O'Reileys did not. I had to figure this procedure out on my own with a little help from AI as no one had a tutorial on any of this for a CX9. Not HARD, but it is a major PITA to have to take so much stuff apart just to access some stupid bolts.
I hope this helps some of you
1. Put the car on Jackstands and remove the front wheels.
2. Put a jack under the engine or suitably support it then remove the after bolt on the torque strut.
3. Disconnect the stabilizer links from the stabilizer bar.
4. Remove the intermediate exhaust pipe section from the Y-Pipe to the muffler.
5. Put a jack under the after part of the fwd sub-frame to support it..
6. Loosen the fwd subframe fasteners but leave on (19 mm nut).
7, Remove the 19 mm nuts from the mid-subframe.
8. Removed the 2 triangle plates at the rear of the subframe (19 mm and 17 mm).
9 Using your jack slowly lower the rear subframe just enough to access the stabilizer bar clamps and no more. If you go much lower you would have to disconnect the steering shaft and the ball joints. You can safely lower the rear end of the subframe a few inches to access the bolts. Your steering wheel shaft has a floating spline that will accommodate a few inches of movement without a requiring disconnect, just keep an eye on it.
10. Change you bushings..
11. Reassembly is the same process reversed. Torque the subframe fasteners to 95 ft/lb.
I did it the hard way the 1st time. I just changed my steering rack on my 2012 CX9 and had to remove the stabilizer bar. It takes about 45 min to lower the subframe and about 1 hour to reassemble it all using using an impact gun and power watchet. You will need 2 exhaust gaskets for re-assembly (1 Flange and 1 crush) Auto-zone had the gaskets in stock, O'Reileys did not. I had to figure this procedure out on my own with a little help from AI as no one had a tutorial on any of this for a CX9. Not HARD, but it is a major PITA to have to take so much stuff apart just to access some stupid bolts.
I hope this helps some of you
N7turbo
2023 CX-5 2.5T ... 2024 MX-5 RF GT
I hope you didn't actually mean the engine! For everyone else's information, the car should only be supported on the crossmember with the dimple pattern on it:
Otherwise, great write-up. Labor intensive indeed.
I did mean put a jack under the engine. I used a bottle jack and a piece of wood. The reason being is that you are removing the bolt from the torque strut or the after motor mount. What you are doing is trying to make sure the engine and transmission do not rotate about the horizontal axis. There should be very little force on the jack. Your engine is supported on the left and right sides. One is called the motor mount and the other the transmission mount. The torque strut is the 3rd motor mount that soaks up rotational torque due to the transverse mounting. You are merely preventing the motor from rotating and over stressing the motor and transmission mounts. I removed the jack and used a prybar to rotate the engine and align the bolt holes when re-assembling.
I changed the front bushings over to siberian polyurethane bushings. I went into it fairly blind as I couldn't find any write ups on it.
It was a PITA but I didn't remove anything but the bushing bracket bolts. However, if I did it again I would 100% remove the wheels for hopefully better access. I would not have been able to do it without an extra long flex head ratcheting wrench like these from harbor freight. There isn't really room for sockets and ratchets. You can buy cheaper versions of the wrenches on amazon, probably even a single instead of a set. If you go too cheap you may break the ratcheting mechanism though. I broke my cheap $20 one near the end.
You have limited access to the bolts but you can get to it. It took me maybe 3 hours to do it but I didn't start out using the extra long wrench. I mainly went from right under it but I think I'd have had easier access from the side with the wheel off. I'd guess I could do it in under an hour if I soaked it in penetrating fluid and started with the right wrench.
I should mention that doing it exactly how I did it you will have to be laying down under the car reaching up over what the bushing bracket is attached to and having to fairly blindly go at the bolts. Any look you can take will be brief and strained. There are obstructions close to it that block most tools. Without the extra long flex ratchet wrench this method is probably impossible.
Also this was for the FWD 2012 model. I don't know how AWD gets in the way.
It was a PITA but I didn't remove anything but the bushing bracket bolts. However, if I did it again I would 100% remove the wheels for hopefully better access. I would not have been able to do it without an extra long flex head ratcheting wrench like these from harbor freight. There isn't really room for sockets and ratchets. You can buy cheaper versions of the wrenches on amazon, probably even a single instead of a set. If you go too cheap you may break the ratcheting mechanism though. I broke my cheap $20 one near the end.
You have limited access to the bolts but you can get to it. It took me maybe 3 hours to do it but I didn't start out using the extra long wrench. I mainly went from right under it but I think I'd have had easier access from the side with the wheel off. I'd guess I could do it in under an hour if I soaked it in penetrating fluid and started with the right wrench.
I should mention that doing it exactly how I did it you will have to be laying down under the car reaching up over what the bushing bracket is attached to and having to fairly blindly go at the bolts. Any look you can take will be brief and strained. There are obstructions close to it that block most tools. Without the extra long flex ratchet wrench this method is probably impossible.
Also this was for the FWD 2012 model. I don't know how AWD gets in the way.
For the ones that were successful in replacing these bushings, did you notice a difference in handling? I have one with 96K. I bought the oem bushings and I was thinking of replacing them. Great write up and discussion.
I also replaced the shocks with oem and I can say that despite the old ones were not that bad, i can notice a difference that is enjoyable.
I also replaced the shocks with oem and I can say that despite the old ones were not that bad, i can notice a difference that is enjoyable.
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