Front Anti Roll Bar Drop Link Bushing Replacements
05-12-2007, 11:05 AM
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Front Anti Roll Bar Drop Link Bushing Replacements
FWIW: Heard a "Tunk Thunk" from the front driver's side of my 911SC when I would cross ripples in concrete, or hit a bump just right... Up on the jack stands and off with the wheels... Sure enough, the upper Drop Link Sway Bar Bushing is flat GONE! Bolt and the steel roller were still there, but not one bit of rubber! This is on the M474 Sport Suspension, and the bottom of the Drop Link is Heim Jointed, with bronze bushings so no issues there.
I pull the Passenger front wheel, and that top bushing has just a very small piece of rubber hanging out!!! The rest is also completely GONE! This is interesting, because my service records show that I paid good money to have these very same bushings replaced at 53.8K and I just turned 58K, and I think bushings last more than 4 thousand miles!!! Which means the shop never did the work and charged me the big bucks, and so now somebody is going to feel my pain!
BUT, that is not the point of this thread! I pulled the Drop Links (very easy job, btw; one 13mm socket, one 13mm box end, one 15mm socket, one 15mm box end) and went to my local Ace Hardware, and found a set of Nylon Bushings that were the EXACT I.D. for the bolt, and the EXACT O.D. to fit against the shoulders of the drop link. Also found a HD Butyl Rubber "O" Ring to fit over the inside portion of the nylon bushing, and press fit into the upper Drop Link end piece. Used two of these on each Drop Link. Had to file maybe two mm's from each side of the nylon bushing to perfectly fit into the Sway Bar Attachment Points (trial and error process!)
Reassembled everything, and took her out for a spin... Smooth, tight, and corners flat as a Kansas wheat field! Total cost? $1.72 for all parts (you need four (4) each of the Nylon Bushings and the Butyl O Rings). Just unbolt your Drop Links, clean out any remaining old rubber bushing residue, press in your new Nylon/Butyl combo bushings (I used a plain old bench vise to ease them into the top end of the Drop Link), file a bit of material from each side of the nylon "shoulders" to fit, and bolt it all back into place... 30 minutes, tops.
If anyone wants to do it, and can't find the parts, I'll source them and mail them to you for $5.00, which is less than the cost of one rubber replacement bushing! And, your sway bar will be tighter (and maybe quieter!) than before!
I pull the Passenger front wheel, and that top bushing has just a very small piece of rubber hanging out!!! The rest is also completely GONE! This is interesting, because my service records show that I paid good money to have these very same bushings replaced at 53.8K and I just turned 58K, and I think bushings last more than 4 thousand miles!!! Which means the shop never did the work and charged me the big bucks, and so now somebody is going to feel my pain!
BUT, that is not the point of this thread! I pulled the Drop Links (very easy job, btw; one 13mm socket, one 13mm box end, one 15mm socket, one 15mm box end) and went to my local Ace Hardware, and found a set of Nylon Bushings that were the EXACT I.D. for the bolt, and the EXACT O.D. to fit against the shoulders of the drop link. Also found a HD Butyl Rubber "O" Ring to fit over the inside portion of the nylon bushing, and press fit into the upper Drop Link end piece. Used two of these on each Drop Link. Had to file maybe two mm's from each side of the nylon bushing to perfectly fit into the Sway Bar Attachment Points (trial and error process!)
Reassembled everything, and took her out for a spin... Smooth, tight, and corners flat as a Kansas wheat field! Total cost? $1.72 for all parts (you need four (4) each of the Nylon Bushings and the Butyl O Rings). Just unbolt your Drop Links, clean out any remaining old rubber bushing residue, press in your new Nylon/Butyl combo bushings (I used a plain old bench vise to ease them into the top end of the Drop Link), file a bit of material from each side of the nylon "shoulders" to fit, and bolt it all back into place... 30 minutes, tops.
If anyone wants to do it, and can't find the parts, I'll source them and mail them to you for $5.00, which is less than the cost of one rubber replacement bushing! And, your sway bar will be tighter (and maybe quieter!) than before!
