Hey Gents I have a 2005 XJR .What is the easy way to get to the sway bar bushings and replace them. I have the front end up and tires off. It looks like I could get to the driver side if i remove the air box and come from the top. The right side has a support bar of some kind right above the front bolt. I also have the inside wheel well covers off.

 

ALLDATA states the job is 3.6 hrs, but no repair instructions.

 

when my front end was apart for upper arms and lower bushings they tried to access from the top. The mechanic dropped steel subframe to inspect the chassis bushings and this gave access to the sway bar bushings.

 

I did this recently. The subframe can stay in place, but working space is very tight.

I removed just the pipe from the air box that goes off to the throttle body, I guess removing the air box will help as well.

I removed the wheel arch liners to get better access and light in the area.

On my car (2005/6 SV8) there was a weedy looking cross brace that obstructed the bolts holding the saddle clamps which retain the bushings.

Removing this brace was tricky, but worth the effort. The bolts are accessible from below.

I was then able to get to the saddle clamp bolts with relative ease on both sides from the top with several socket extensions and a universal joint.

My car suffered a clonking sound which turned out to be lateral movement in the roll bar. The bushes didn't seem worn when I removed them, what I would see was that the flanges on the roll bar did not mate right up to the bushes, this allowed the lateral movement and clonking sound.

Fitting new bushes alone was probably not going to fix my problem so I took a file to the bolt holes on one saddle clamp to make them oval. This meant I could shift the bush over a few mm to make a nice snug fit against the roll bar flanges.

This has done the trick, the job took me just less than 2 hours.

 

Thank you guys for the info. Just finished rebuilding the front end suspension and just have the sway bar bushings left to do. This Forum has been awesome in researching repairs and sharing knowledge. I've been restoring my 2005 xjr for almost two years now. Just have the water pump left (small leak).