Since refreshing front suspension decided to do rear sway bar links. The Moogs I bought and all others in the online catalog have bushings many times the width of the originals. Guess fine because obviously replacing both.


Original

New

 

I am gearing up to replace mine soon as well, and purchased them about a year ago. I ended up buying Dorman brand SL85655xl for both sides. I haven’t replaced them yet but your thread got me thinking and I looked at the replacement parts I received, and then took a look at the originals still on car. Here’s what I found that may be of
interest to you:

1) the parts diagram for my year (97) shows the bushing to the rear sway bar as a 2 piece setup, both bushings being same number(each side for a total of four)
2) my replacements each came with one bushing each side, seemingly longer than originally equipped
3) looking at my originals which I believe to be oem, there is rubber on both the upper and lower sides of the sway bar.(edit I meant the control arm mount, sorry for any confusion)
and
4) looking in depth at my new replacements, the longer bushing seems to have a total of three grooves in it, with the middle one having the smallest o d in size leading me to believe that this rubber bushing is to be pressed into the rear sway bar so that the middle groove (I.e. the smallest one) is seated in the sway bar, leaving equal length of the bushing both above and below the sway bar, essentially using one bushing to achieve what two bushings would have. I will attach pics to show what I mean, I hope I am making sense. Again I have not changed them, but I now believe that is the intention.

 

One of my oem rear sway bar links, showing rubber above and below control arm mount(previously mistaken for sway bar)

 

One of my new Dorman brand replacement rear sway bar end links, if you look closely, the middle groove in the rubber bushing is of slightly smaller diameter, which I believe is supposed to be pressed into the control arm mount thus leaving equal portions of rubber bushing both above and below mount, as opposed to using a two piece setup.

 

I could be wrong, again as I have yet to change them but maybe someone else can chime in? I suspect you asked because something seemed off and I’m a firm believer in that “gut” feeling. I believe you may have overlooked this small faction but take no offense, I probably would have too if not for your post, and having the luxury of seeing original oem setup vs the replacement this is what I’ve concluded, and being able to makes me also want to know before I go about replacing mine soon. I hope we can solve this issue with certainty before I proceed with my big project.
I will also attach a photo of the book w/part numbers but again, it’s for 97 models (which is what I have) so I am unsure if any specific design changes were made. Check back with your findings so we all may benefit from any info possible. Good luck and cheers!

 

Again, this is from 97 ym book but diagram #3 shows two matching parts, oem #mna3504ab , quantity 4 (4 total, 2 each side) but could absolutely be replaced with an elongated bushing meant to replace two bushings with one.

 

I took the pic of the original after I put the link back on to show difference. It had the lower bushing too.

 

May be worthwhile especially for your peace of mind, to just pull one off and thoroughly inspect the bushing just to see if what I said was the case, or there’s something else missed or worse case, an insufficient replacement part.

 

I have similar parts - I cut the bush in half along the centre groove and put one half above, and the other below, the mount.

 

I've used poly bushing kit from Generic ENERY SUSPENSIONS and reamed the hole a bit to correct size for fit. Been a few years now.

 

That makes a lot of sense.

 

Here is a pic of the Suspensia brand. Definitely looks like that bushing is intended to be cut.

Looking at my first post, I noticed the rubber around the top split. I torqued per the manual. I'll be getting a replacement. Ordered from RockAuto and have never had a problem with them fixing part issues.

 

I got fed up of the useless bushes supplied with new drop links and which might as well be made out of cheese. They're so pathetic that you can't even torque them up to the specified settings without the rubber splitting.
I wasn't prepared to pay around £10 apiece for what amounts to polyurethane washers so I decided source polyurethane washers that weren't being marketed as Jaguar bushes and simply sold as washers.
I found and fitted these ones from eBay. They've really sharpened up the rear end and each one cost pence.
https://ebay.us/m/CJzOuv
Thoroughly recommended as a solution.

The supplied washers showing one pair already fitted.

 

OE fitting is one bush each side of the tab on the control arm.
I also bought aftermarket links with the rubbish rubber concertinas.

Too fat, even if cut in half as noted.
Confess I bought the OEM rubbers.