This is best done on drive on ramp. Put car down on its wheels. You will have less room to work with but end of stabilizer will line up with the bushing clamp.

 

Thanks Witek, will give that a shot.

 

So I tried again for a while with the truck on the ground, wheels left/right/middle and absolutely couldn't get the bushing to compress to where the links would sit correctly. I ended up giving in and swapped on one of the old bushings that was still in pretty good condition and it went on first try. I guess 3/4 bushings is progress, haha. Going to go ahead and pick up new links and bolt and give it another shot or have a shop do it for me. On another note, the PS reservoir swap worked and everything is back to normal.

 

I'm confused.

The new bushing should be the same physical size as the old ones. At least close enough that you can't tell. I did mine and don't recall if it is possible without going at and looking, but are you sure you didn't flip the arm?

I had my truck on the ground and used a floor jack to hold the bar until I got the center mounts inplace. Then it was just a matter of swinging it up into place.

Were your old bushings popped out or did you have damage to the bar?

 

Bikerider give us a rundown of how you did it if you can thanks. Did you replace the middle completely or just the rubber bushes. Was there alot of tension in the outer part of the bar?.

 

Not really much to say. I was off road and popped the passenger side bushing. I was a good 6 hours away from home with every bump in the road making a loud clank. No tools or parts, but with some 3/4" tubing I was able to make a temp fix. The tubing worked well enough that I could take my time getting to the proper repair.

After dropping the bar completely, I cleaned it and used a little dry lube to help slide the new bushing in place. I reused all of the original hardware.

The front tires were pulled with the truck only slightly elevated (just enough to get the tire out of place). Everything just bolted back together.

Oh, clearly my memory was off in the earlier post. (jack stand not jack to hold the bar and tires off)

Yes, it isn't the safest picture. But I only have two jack stands and needed one to prop up the bar so I could lift it into place.

Replacing the front sway bar bushings and shocks are two straight forward DIY tasks.

 

Ware is normally at center of the bushing. With wheels in the ground there should not be any alignment problems unless something is bent or out of place.

 

I'm not sure how flipping the bar is even possible. It pretty much just goes one way.

My issue, on the passenger side at least (drivers went on first shot), was that the new bushing had so much rebound compared the the old one that getting the links close enough together, and parallel to each other, was difficult to do. Whereas when I put the old one on, it came together and the bolt threaded in right away. You can kind of see in Witek's pictures that the links are kind of deforming the bushings a bit, it was hard to hold it in that position, deforming the new bushing, so that I could align the bolt. Maybe the bushings were on sale at Autohaus for a reason, haha.

While we're here. Can anyone give a quick explanation on how this bar actually functions, and those two arms that come down perpendicular to it function?

 

Try to read this article. Sway bar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Any tricks to loosening the outer bushing clamp bolts. Mine are seized and one bolt partially stripped. If I shear the bolt head off will the clamps fall off? It looks like the bolts thread into the top clamp only. Or do they thread into the frame as well? I've tried soaking with penetrating oil over night and heating up with a propane torch but no luck. Thanks

 

Bolt threads into upper bracket only. If you cut head off it should be easy to remove. Bolt may be rusted in hole as well but few taps with hammer will drive it out from control arm. Order brackets and bolts before hand.