Over the weekend, I set about replacing the two front sway bar bushings due to some knocking and overall poor ride from the front suspension.
The right side job progressed well. The old bushing had a one inch long crack on the inside and no cracks outside. Packed the new bushing with high temp bearing grease. Even used a new bracket...


Underneath. So far so good...


The left side attempt hit an immediate snag due to the placement of the line with the metal tubing that runs around to the front of the engine. It's directly over the front bolt for the bracket, and probably should not be bent to get it out of the way. I tried to make an opening a couple of times, but found it impossible. The rear bolt was accessable.


Doing some research, I noticed that on Gus's XK8, the metal tubing of the same line is placed closer to the engine, allowing easier access.


I took the car out for a test drive, and noticed with only one bushing replaced the ride was significantly improved. The suspension reacted much better over bumps. The knocking sound was still there, but greatly reduced. I was encouraged despite the setback.

Since the bushing taken out of the right side had been in pretty good shape, I had hopes the left would be the same way, which gave me an idea. I loosened the rear bolt of the left bracket, raised the sway bar and used a plastic syringe to inject the bearing grease into the origional bushing to help get rid of the knocking.

This was the result. Wasn't sure if there was more grease inside or outside of the bushing. I'm betting outside.


On the second test drive, the knocking was reduced even more. Over the past few days the ride has gotten very solid, and the knocking has disappeared!
I will at some point consider what to do about the placement of the tubing over the bracket bolt, but for now I'm just enjoying my very nice riding XK8!

 

Uh.... by bearing grease I assume you mean some sort of multi-lith wheel bearing lube? Almost every rubber piece of an automobile is synthetic rubber and made from petroleum. While I understand wanting to prevent friction from destroying the bushing, applying petroleum grease will cause the rubber to swell and disintegrate. My best suggestion, and I've been using it professionally for years, is http://tinyurl.com/82eqo5y . This stuff does not attack rubber parts, will not attract dirt and water does not wash it off. I even use it as a dielectric grease on spark rotors and plug boots. Before you polyurethane bushing guys start telling me all about how (and I absolutely don't care who told you) how you are supposed to use white grease on poly' bushings let me just say, "Don't." In more than forty one years I have yet to find one single thing white grease is good for beside making a nasty mess.

Just sayin'... ;-)

 

Good Job Skid...hope it works long term.

Sure you don't want and XKR to play with?

Beav it seems we should be hearing from you a lot more than we do.....please.

cheers,

jj

 

Skid;

Curious: was your "knock" a heavy sound, or more of a "clattering" that you'd get when you sent over small abrupt bumps (like Bott's Dots in the road)?

 

It would just clunk once, not loudly, mostly going in and out of the driveway at slower speeds when the wheels were turned to one side. If I hit the washerboard type bumps around intersections at a higher speed where the pavement has buckled then it would seem to get out of sync and clatter more. Now the suspension seems to keep up better and follow the terrain as it occurs.

 

If the grease does not work you can remove one bolt and lift the cap a little then push up on the sway bar and remove the bushing from inside. With a little lubricant you should be able to push the new bushing into place and bolt it down. It seems to me that the grease is just a temporary fix on the old bushing.

 

I have never tried caliper lube on bushings but it should work since they do tell you to put it on the piston boots and guide pin housings. I have always used silicone grease with good results, its gooey, stays in there and is compatible with plastic and rubber.

 

Skid, did you try a swivel, and letting the extension lean more towards the flexible parts of those lines?

 

Nah, it's way too crowded, no room. The only way will be to shorten that line in front of the engine. Unless yours is like mine, and you found a way to do it. Is your metal tube where mine is, or where Gus's is?

I agree it's not a long term solution, it was just something to get some results with and not wind up with something I couldn't put back together (it's my only car). I thought about pulling the bracket up and pulling the bushing out from below, but this seemed an easier way to see where the knock was coming from. It rides like a dream now, and now I know what the problem was.

 

How did the end links feel when you took them loose? I had these wear out on an other car with this ball and socket design where it bolts to the sway bar. I have both little looseness in the front (new control arms took care of most of it) and a clunk from the rear. If I did bushings I would probably do links too.

 

I didn't disconnect the end links, but I checked them for play and didn't find any.

 

Hmmmmmmmmm...yeah, the end links usually wear out about the same time...or before...the bushings. Mine clunked badly after a trip over 30 miles of rough road, looked like they were fine, but after replacing was a huge difference. Also, relatively inexpensive and easy to change.

 

If you take the wheel lining out you can fit a ring spanner/wrench (10mm) between the gap from inside the wheel arch and with ur other arm reach up under to put a finger in place to hold the top of the ring spanner over the bolt head and so undo.

I've just done this on my 2001 XKR had no problems takes about 5-15 per side doing it this way do take both brackets of first then the bar moves up/down easy to fit the new ones in from inside the engine bay.

 

I took the wheel off and removed the liner to look during the job, and the gap under the sheet metal in front of the bracket was below the bracket bolts and presented too much of an up angle for my tools. Was your gap higher or perhaps you have some wrenches with handles set at an angle to the heads?

 

I bought the right wrench today after seeing Simon's post. Used the wheel well access, and managed to get the left bushing in

Here she is, all plump and full of grease. Looks all neat and tidy from here...



The underneath shot better tells the tale. Bit of a struggle in spots, I wound up pushing the old bushing out a good amount from the wheel well, then pulling it out the rest of the way from here. This is the new one, I should proibably clean up around it, avoid collecting grime and such.

Thanks to all for the input!

 

glad you pushed forward and got that other one out. I was starting to lose sleep over your mismatched bushings.

 

Don't lose any sleep, but they're still a little mismatched. I noticed that the left one did not close completely like the right one did, and so has about a 2mm gap facing to the rear (you can see it in the first pic). The bushing is squarely in the bottom slot and is aligned with the bracket, and I can't think of how it could come up short like that, unless it's flawed or a different size. The ride's still quiet though.