Steve in Seattle

I got my Prothane 19mm rear swaybar bushing kit (with endlinks) in the mail today, along with 30mm Prothane front swaybar bushings.

Both the kit and just the front bushings came with a tube of greese.

So my question is: Do I need to greese the poly endlinks at all? the front kit doesn't have endlinks included and seems to have just as much greese as the rear kit... implying to me that endlinks don't need any greese.

Should I greese the poly endlinks or not?

Also, any tips on removing the old bushings from the sway bars? Glancing at the bushings this morning, they seemed to be one-piece, but I havn't really cracked open the packaging to fit. If they are one piece, I guess I'll have to remove the whole sway bar and work the rubber bushings off the ends of it... and then work the urathane ones onto the bar. If that's the case I assume you wouldn't want to greese the bushings until you have them on and near their final resting place (no point in smearing greese all the way down the sway bar).

Any tips?

Steve in Seattle

oh yeah, the front bushings aren't a complete kit... if you're wondering why... it's caused I ordered the wrong one from Thunder Racing.

No big deal, I plan on going to a 35mm unit later this year anyway.

LPEdave

I can't remember for sure, but you may be right that the stock rubber ones will need to be slid all the way off the end of the swaybar. But the urethane ones should have a slit in them that lets you put them on easier, and they should be greased - liberally. Install the bushings with the slit facing the front on the front ones, and slit facing the rear on the rear bar.

Don't grease the endlinks.

Dave

Steve in Seattle

Cool. Thanks Dave, now that you mention it, I do remember reading about the "slit to the front on the front, and slit to the rear out back" thing.

I'll post back when I'm done to confirm the rubber bushing's construction (at least on a '97 Trans Am convertible, I dunno if they used a harder bushing or different design on the 1LE's 21mm bar).

Steve

94bird

I'd recommend to use anti-seize on the bushings instead of the supplied lube. I think it works better.

#7

The isolator bushings(hold bar to chassis) stock do have a slit,they should peal right off with some effort. Mine were stuck on pretty good.
Use the grease provided first time then some silicone/moly to follow will be fine,when they need it again later.

You'll see that your stock end links are pretty bad when you get them off So you may want to just order the front end links now and get them on later. IMO they are the most important of the sway bars funtion.

Yeah make sure front isolator bush is facing front ,rear to rear(as Dave said)
In case you dont know?Also make sure you install the bar and bushings with the suspension loaded,tires on ground.
I jacked the car up and placed two 2x8x18" boards under the tires then lowered the car onto them.To give me some working room under there coarse you could try to drive up whatever.

I just did the 35mm bar on mine,what an improvement.And put my 21mm BMR on the rear and its better with ST bar.Verses the 19mm.

Good luck

p.s. you mentioned you got a 19mm rear bushing kit?But have a 21mm rear

Steve in Seattle

No, I have a 19mm rear. I was referring to the 21mm 1LE's sway bar (and in later years the Firehawks/WS6/SS packages got it as well) since I don't have one and couldn't check that for anyone.



anyway, yes the body bushings HAVE to be slit... the eye-holes on each end of each bar are too big to have the isolator slip over it. Besides, pushing the isolator all the way down the S-curves would be a major PITA.

I have no idea how the sway bar can be bolted down with the tires on though... I couldn't even access the endlinks' nuts without removing the wheels. I can't imagine grunting and unbolting a rusted end link with no room to work. Maybe if you had a lift and went from the inside.

Here's my tips:

- remove the wheels... TRUST ME. If you need to support the car as sprung, prop up axle tubes with jack stands. You may want to put the front wheels on 1" plywood to account for the height you'd need to raise the car to get the tires off... that way you're still level.

- use a wire brush (preferably on a power drill) to knock off some of the rust on the nut and bolt before you start. Those end links are a MAJOR pain.

- use WD-40. After 6 years and 140,000 miles, my endlinks were on there and rusted solid. Two good soakings and 5 minutes after each should do it

- don't remove either end link or either isolator until ALL your nuts are loose and backed out a fair ways. Removing the isolators before the endlinks just leaves you holding the bar steady while you work on the last end link (which is already a PITA to start with).

- note how much thread is left over in the stock configuration. If you're using the stock stuff as replacements, CUT THE THREADED END DOWN ~1". The rust was bad enough, but when I had to do it for almost 2" of threading I nearly screamed. fortunately my aftermarket links were much shorter. Even if I replace the front endlinks with 1LE ends, I'll check the stock links for length and see what I can trim back on my replacement parts before installing them. I don't mind 1/2" of thread past the nut... but I HATE seeing 2" and knowing how rusted the nut is on the bottom as is.

- when removing the endlinks, put the crescent wrench on the bottom in such an angle that you use the shock mount as a stop. This allows you to use a deep socket on the nut and focus your effort without also trying to hold the bolt end steady.

- clean/restore everything you remove and will be using again. Put bolts (and the U-shaped isolator bolts) in a vice, knock off the rust with a wire brush, run the nuts up and down the length of the threading a few times (to make sure they spin free). I went so far as to wire-brush off ALL rust, and paint any non-threaded surface on the hardware that is being installed. The aftermarket end link were already zinc-chromate plated (yellow-green shine) but all the stock stuff got a nice coat of grey rust-proof enamel before being re-installed.

Moral of the story: Get a lift and pneumatic tools.

Steve in Seattle

oh yeah, the GM end links and isolator brackets use 13mm bolts and nuts. The aftermarket endlinks I got from Thunder Racing (Prothane) use a 9/16" nut and bolt head design. I didn't check what the thread count was on the aftermarket stuff, but I know the bolts were thicker than stock.

GM service Manual says all the sway bar nuts torque to either 18 ft-lbs or 16 ft-lbs. With the poly-urathane bushings, I just went until I saw a small buldge and then backed off about 1/2 turn.

I wouldn't reccomend locktight.

sgias95Z

The Haynes manual sais to "make sure the slits in the bushings face toward front of the vehicle. " This is for the rear bar. Is this in error ? I keep reading to the contrary on this board. I haven't installed it yet so let me know the truth

Steve in Seattle

Yep it's wrong.

The GM Service Manual, as well as the Chilton manual both say front isolators are to have the slits forward, and the rear isolators (on the rear bar) are to have the slits facing rearward.