[mrpolice]

No one had a how to on this so I made one. Many have complained about a groan and rattle from the rear suspension. Some suggested replacing the sway bar bushings. For some that worked, for me it did not. It was my stabilizer end links a.k.a. sway bar end links. Here is how I got them off...

 

[mrpolice]

Next steps...

You can beat the crap out of these and you wont hurt your E unless you miss. Once the ball joint looking ends are exposed - put a vice grip on them and using a 14 mm socket or impact gun (like I did) take em' out. You have to use a vice grip or a strong friend with pliers because that mofo will just spin if you torque on it.

The new ones go right back in their place. They are right and left specific however. Stick an allen wrench in the end of the link - the tip of the threaded part (the only place it will fit) - then use a 14 mm open ended wrench to tighten it down. Hold the allen wrench steady as you go. I spent $15 and bought a 14 mm ratcheting open ended wrench to make it go faster. While the car is up in the air, tighten it but not all the way - just so it is snug. Then use a jack and jack up the rear hub you are working on. When you see all the vehicle's weight is on the jack - then tighten down the link ends all the way. - You're done. I spent $62 total on the parts.

I did both sides, the second one was about 3x as fast as the first.

My car has groaned for a year and after this fix it feels like a new car although Im sure it rides the same it's just so quiet. After I was done (last picture) I sprayed brake cleaner all over to get rid of the penetrating oil. Then I spray flat black high temp paint all over everything so any scuffs I made wouldn't rust.

All the other rust you see is typical for this climate where they use salt on the roads 6 months outta they year - bleh!

If this posts helps you let me know! This forum has saved me $1000's so far...

 

[LunchBoxDriver]

Just wanted to say NICELY DONE...!!! *applause*, *applause*...!

LBD

 

[ramblerdan]

Good work on those links, Mrpolice. Mine had rusted threads too, and ate two Allen keys before I finally removed the nuts. I like the "hammer justice" idea.

Best to put some anti-seize or grease on the exposed threads of the new links, or paint as Mrpolice did, to avoid the rust problem in the future.

 

[SOCIAL DISTORTION]

Great pics....I am down south of you in Akron...howdy E neighbor. Did you remove your tires when you did this? This is a great site to help us with our E's

 

[mrpolice]

Did you remove your tires when you did this?

Yes I removed the tires - without doing that it would be a bigger pain than it already was. If you see LeBron down there kick him in the nuts.

 

[Retro Grouch]

Thanks for the tutorial. I just bought a pair of those links. Weird thing though, they cost me $16 each side at a Toronto Honda dealership and they were even in stock, no waiting. Hope mine aren't seized and I plan to use graphite on the threads when installing. Since I'm reusing the old nuts, I'm going to include a couple of split washers to prevent them from backing out.

 

[spdrcr5]

Added to the FAQ. Thanks! I am in the middle of doing this and will be using these instructions tomorrow to finish.



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[MME4me]

mrpolice -- Are your new endlinks OEM or aftermarket?

If I go OEM, does anyone know if I'll need new Stabilizer Link Protectors? Or can the old ones be reused?

Confused over the price difference. Looks like the important part is only ten bucks and the plastic protector is sixty.

 

[ziggie]

Great article Jon!!

I have a Q; how did you know they were bad..? did they have play or what?

MTIA
--------------------------------------

You can beat the crap out of these and you wont hurt your E unless you miss. Once the ball joint looking ends are exposed - put a vice grip on them and using a 14 mm socket or impact gun (like I did) take em' out. You have to use a vice grip or a strong friend with pliers because that mofo will just spin if you torque on it.

The new ones go right back in their place. They are right and left specific however. Stick an allen wrench in the end of the link - the tip of the threaded part (the only place it will fit) - then use a 14 mm open ended wrench to tighten it down. Hold the allen wrench steady as you go. I spent $15 and bought a 14 mm ratcheting open ended wrench to make it go faster. While the car is up in the air, tighten it but not all the way - just so it is snug. Then use a jack and jack up the rear hub you are working on. When you see all the vehicle's weight is on the jack - then tighten down the link ends all the way. - You're done. I spent $62 total on the parts.

I did both sides, the second one was about 3x as fast as the first.

My car has groaned for a year and after this fix it feels like a new car although Im sure it rides the same it's just so quiet. After I was done (last picture) I sprayed brake cleaner all over to get rid of the penetrating oil. Then I spray flat black high temp paint all over everything so any scuffs I made wouldn't rust.

All the other rust you see is typical for this climate where they use salt on the roads 6 months outta they year - bleh!

If this posts helps you let me know! This forum has saved me $1000's so far...

 

[tangboy5000]

I live in Cincinnati and we also have the salty roads problem. I took one look at mine and went to get the sawz-all. It takes about a minute to switch them out this way. You only need the $10 part and the new nuts. I still can't figure out what the $60 protector is. I also had to get new bolts for the sway bar bushing brackets. I broke the heads off 3 of the 4 in the back, which means breaking the weld on the nuts on the backside also.

 

[RanGer498]

why did you change them ? where you getting a funny sound (like a cluncking sound) comming from the rear ?

 

[asp]

nicely done

There have been several people that have covered this topic but your photos really are excellent. Nicely done.

 

[tangboy5000]

why did you change them ? where you getting a funny sound (like a cluncking sound) comming from the rear ?

IDK if you were referring to me or not. I replaced mine because they were worn out and really loose. Plus I was replacing alot of other suspension components and these have to be taken off anyway.

 

[bigdog]

mrpolice -- Are your new endlinks OEM or aftermarket?

If I go OEM, does anyone know if I'll need new Stabilizer Link Protectors? Or can the old ones be reused?

Confused over the price difference. Looks like the important part is only ten bucks and the plastic protector is sixty.

Good question on the price on these Link Proctectors. There are aftermarket links that show them already on, this is if they are referring to the plactic caps that are on either end.

 

[mrpolice]

They are Moog brand I believe. I was confused too by the price of the "protector". The OEM's are unbelievably cheap. After I did the rears, I noticed about 2 months later one of my front links was snapped off. Never felt any difference, car didnt pull & no noise. Replaced that one too and it all felt the same.

 

[mrpolice]

why did you change them ? where you getting a funny sound (like a cluncking sound) comming from the rear ?

Yes, it was a sound that was driving me mad. If you lay under the rear of your car and bench press it up and kinda make it go up and down, you will hear it groan. After I fixed them I didnt feel any ride difference but since it was so quiet it kinda 'felt' better.

 

[Blaine B.]

On any vehicle I do service on, I always use a needle fitting in the grease gun, to greast tierod ends, balljoints, and swaybar end-links without grease fittings. There is no squeaking on the original swaybar end-links on my father's 2003 Element with over 100,000 miles and I believe that may be in part because of my greasing of the non-greasable parts with the needle fitting on my grease gun.

Just a heads up for some of you guys. Just poke a tiny hole in the bushing and grease them every 6,000 miles or so, about every 2 oil changes if you're using regular "dino" oil (which is about 3,000-5,000 mile oil change interval,) about every oil change if you're using synthetic oil which would be about a 5,000-7,000 mile oil change interval.

 

[bigdog]

I need to do mine as well, I was wondering, would it be possible to just take a sawzall to it? There is really not anything that needs to be saved from the old ones.

 

[ajchien]

Not knowing much about this... I presume the preferred way would be to Use an Allen key to hold things in place while a wrench loosens the bolt? Why was It hard to keep an Allen key in there? Gunk in the Allen key slot?