I changed out my front sway bar bushings yesterday, and I made a video of it (of course). After watching the video I realized that I don't do I very good job of showing how to access the bushings from above. There are two places in the video where I show how to access them. At the 3:10 mark you can see how to get to the left bushing, and at the 8:05 mark you can see how to get to the right one. I hope this helps someone in the future. It took me about an hour to do both bushings, and probably 10-15 minutes of that was spent fiddling with the camera. I'm pretty confident that I could do this again in 30 to 45 minutes.

NOTE: Read post #11 before attempting this. The jack I show in the video isn't necessary, and can even be dangerous. If both sides are unbolted first the bushings can be easily removed without using the jack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U65sAYDhLZY

 

Wow, what a great video, Rev. Thanks.

I'd be curious to know how much time a Jag shop charges for this work?

Anyone?

 

Great job Sam and thanks for the pointers on the tools. I was also wondering what the Jag dealer would charge for the same job...sans the video.

 

Nicely done.

 

Nice one Rev. It always amazes me how you do the work and make the video at the same time.

BTW, for future reference, that airbox rubber mount has a thin metal nut at the very top, against the plastic airbox mount. You can actually grab it with vise-grips to keep the rubber mount from twisting if you need to remove the nut to get the lower half of the airbox out.

 

I have subscribed to Rev's youtube channel, he's got lots of good stuff on there!

 

Thanks , this will be FAQed

 

Nicely done Sam, I don't have an XK but I throughly enjoy watching your vids!

 

Thanks Sam for a great video. I watched it a couple of times and then tackled by bushings today.

Couple of things -- This week Harbor Freight has the extension bars on sale for $13.99

Second, I found that if you undo the straps on both sides of the sway bar, then the bar lifts up and you don't need to use the jack to lift it at all.

This sped up the process quite a bit.

 

Yes, good find on the jack lift not required part.
I found that out after I brought the jack and extension bar from Harbor Freight

Also, if you only need to replace the passenger side bushing, which was my case, you can just remove the air box and access the two bolts without the extension bar.

 

I do not agree with this being a helpfull video.
I can not understand why you did not release both sides at the same time. Then you don,t have to use the jack to put the swaybar under tension to clear the bushing.
So this is not the recommended way to go with.

Best is to jack up the car, release both sides, get the bushes out. Ask your wife or neighboor to give you a little hand with holding the ratched in place from above when you position the new bushing and clamp. Then have the bolts screwed in 2turns. Then go to the other side and position the new bushing. Put the bolts in and give it a few turns. Now send your wife away, and tigthen everything down.
Job done in 10 minutes.

Again, do not work with springs or swaybars under stress. Therefor this is not a safe video.

 

Jochem, I added some notes to the video based on your feedback. I advised against using the jack and let people know that the bushings can be easily removed if both sides are unbolted first. I'm also going to update the original post.

 

I was thinking this morning, what might have made the difference between when the Rev did this and I did, is I put my cat on ramps. Not on Jack Stands. So the weight of the wheels wasn't on the sway bar. Which may have been why the jack wasn't needed to lift up the sway bar.

 

I have a 2000 S-Type. Will this be the same process? Also does it matter if the car is on jack stands or ramps? Which is better?

 

No need to jack the car or use ramps, you can replace both sides as the car sits in the driveway. A jack can be used to assist in pushing the sway bar up but is not necessary.

 

It might be possible to do it without lifting the car, but it's much easier to insert the new bushings from below.

 

.....thinking the same thing. How would one place the bushing and bracket in place and hold it while starting the bolts from only above?

 

Sam, I'm not trying to hijack your thread, but it got me thinking about a knock I've been having, so I stuck the camera under the sway bar and got this pic of the right bushing. The pic is not misleading, it really looks smushed on the bottom. Would that cause a knock, or does it have to be worse? The bushing on the driver's side looked even all the way around.



I also noticed the right bushing's alignment to the bracket, which seems a bit off. The left's alignment is also off the same amount.


Do you think these bushings warrant repacement? Thanks!

 

Just changed mine this is how I did it. 2001 XKR 53K miles

0/ NOTE this job is a lot easier if you jack up both sides and remove BOTH clamps first and then replace the bushing. By doing this the sway bar can easily be moved up/down to remove and fit new bushings.
1/ Jack up the front wheels and remove wheels.
2/ Remove plastic insert inside wheel arch 2 poppers along the bottom front, pull the centers out 1/4inch then lever the plastic outside rim out.
3/ Two poppers at top of wheel arch these have phillips screw heads. If they dont screw out pull them out a little and grip center with thin nose pliers then unscrew the screw.
4/ 3 plastic nuts at bottom edge and a torex screw, then pull insert out.
5/ Between the gap in the body and sub-frame you can see the bracket that holds the sway bar bushing in place. Get a 10mm ring wrench and undo the two nuts. You need to reach under the car from there you can get a finger to the nut to guide the wench as you undo these nuts from inside the wheel arch. I used a tube over the wench to get leverage to get it started and spray with WD 40 first.
6/ Take out the braket from inside the subframe and push the old bushings out i.e again from inside engine bay. You may need to use a bar between the sway bar and lower suspension arm to move the sway bar up and down to wiggle it out.
7/ Coat the inside of the new bushing with grease especially inside the grove.
8/ Push the new one in from inside the engine bay note the split in the bushing must face back ward towards the back of the car and if in correctly should line up with the subframe flat surface, this is really important. Note the grove in the subframe this should seat the grove in the bushing. I used a bar between the sway bar and lower suspension arm to move the sway bar up and down so I could wiggle it into place.
9/ Check it is seated correctly from inside the wheel arch and from above inside the engine bay.
10/ Replace the braket and nuts when you have the nuts nearly tightened down check the bushing split is this lined up and has not moved. From inside the wheel arch you can see this.
11/ Same for both sides replace your wheel lining and wheels take the car for a run. If u smell burning rubber after a run down the freeway then u didnt seat them correctly !!! I know I did this on the passanger side and had to redo LOL.

Should take 30-40 min a side if you go slow second time I did in 30min

I bought mine on eBay for $25 a pair

 

Skid, it's really hard to tell from the pic if there's anything wrong with it. It looks like there's good rubber between the sway bar and the frame, but you're only looking at the very end of the bushing. Maybe the rubber up inside the bushing is completely gone.

I replaced the ones on my car around 95K miles and they seemed to be in OK shape. I'n not sure if they had been replaced previously.