I got bored while I was flushing the cooling system on the XJR so while I was picking up coolant I grabbed a package of stabilizer bar bushings. I had noticed while I was under the car that there was a sizable gap between the link and the stabilizer bar.


Starting to get it apart here. You need a 13mm for the back, 17mm for the front and 15mm deep socket for the end.


The new bushings are too thick. They bring the control arm flange off the shank on the stabilizer bar link and into the threads so I cut them in half. The hole was also too small so I drilled them out to 1/2"



Comparison shot, this is before I drilled the energy suspension bushings


Finished product. These bushings are much stiffer than stock and the gap is gone! The bushing in the link was still servicable. If that was bad I wouldn't have bothered. Once they do go out I have enough extra from the package to do several more.


Ideally this would be a sealed heim joint at the top and more or less solid at the bottom. Ride quality is unaffected by making this a solid connection as long as the range of motion is not compromised.

I have new fronts coming in the mail, one thing I remember from my 99 was that replacing them eliminated an alarming clunk from the front end that I spent a good deal of time chasing down.

 

Good fix and nice little write up...