DIY: Replacing the rear sway bar/stabilizator bar link

Oszy · Sep 17, 2011

Hi there.
A while ago my rear sway bar/stabilizator bar link snapped into two pieces.
I had some spare time to change it myself, and thought i would share with everyone that doesnt know how to.
its pretty easy, and didnt take that long either.
But in the mid process i forgot to take pictures, but I dont think that will be an issue as it is fully possible to explain what to do with the few pictures i took

Here is the part we will be replacing:

First jack your car up to a height that makes you able to reach the screws on the plastic protective cover on the lower control arm. (circled out as step 1)
Remove the wheel to gain access.

I put a spare tire under the car so that if the jack for some reason should fail, the car wouldt kill me when falling down. In my line of work we say "HSE-focus in all we do!"
But as Galo said, and I quote:

Raise the car using the central jacking point and place jack stands at the side jack locations then lower the car onto the jack stands.

I thank you for reminding me. Didnt think about putting that in here while writing since i just wrote up what i did. Since i didnt have any jack stands available, i used a spare tire.(still better than nothing

)

Im sorry for not writing in all the bolt dimensions. Its a week since i did this, just didnt have the time to upload untill now. So its not exactly fresh in my memory.

Back to the subject.

STEP 1:
Loosen the two screws(M10 i think) on both sides of the protective cover. Circled out in the picture below:

STEP 2:
Pull the cover downwards from the place marked out on picture below from both sides:

STEP 3:
Loosen the bolt on the lower control arm(see picture below) I think the bolt i circled out is 19mm.
There is a nut on the other side of the control arm, if im not wrong, this looks like tx. But i think the size of the wrench i used was 8mm.

STEP 4:
Now, this one was tricky. There is a nut on the side facing the wheel, and a very thin one on the oposite side.
Be careful not to "round" it! I cant remember the dimensions, but i remember using a universal wrench when loosening it. I also got a friend to help me out by holding a wrench on the opposite side so that it wouldnt just turn around the entire bolt w/nut when i loosened it.

Marked out in the photo:

STEP 5:
Now its time to put the new "link" in.
Slide it into place and put the bolt through. Tighten the nut on the other side.
Picture:

STEP 6:
It is now okey to put the protective plastic cover back on the lower control arm.
Put the end that is marked out in the picture into place first. Then click it in place on both sides at the other end.
Put the screws back in to secure it.
CAUTION! Do not tighten these two screws too much! They have no other function than to hold the plastic cover in place and keep it from falling off. They only go into very weak plastic threads, they easily break if you tighten the bolts too much.

STEP 7:
Now, you will notice that the link you put on wont reach up to the stabilizator bar where it will be screwed on. So place a little jack or similar underneath the lower control arm, and then lower the jack holding the car up enough to make it possible to fit the bolt into the hole.
Sorry for not having a very good picture of this. But here is what ive got:

STEP 8:
Tighten the nut well, and remove the jack supporting the lower control arm.
It is now safe to put the wheel back on before lowering the car.

IF YOU USED A SPARE TIRE UNDER THE CAR AS I DID, REMEMBER TO PUT IT AWAY FROM UNDERNEATH THE CAR BEFORE LOWERING THE JACK HOLDING THE CAR!

Tighten the wheel nuts/bolts and youre good to go

I'm sorry for not giving the best details and descriptions in the world, but at least i tried. Hope it helps someone that have to change the same part on their cars.

Regards
Kristoffer aka Oszy

jbanks15 · Sep 17, 2011

Most Excellent! Thanks!

Mycroft · Sep 17, 2011

Excellent write-up Oszy!

That said, while it was a good idea to put a spare tire under the car, it's not a good idea to be working under a car while it's only supported by a jack. I wouldn't be under there without two jack stands (and if possible the jack as well) in place.

Again, very excellent write-up. Thanks for taking the time to take the pictures, write it up and post!!! :tu:

Galo · Sep 17, 2011

Oszy, nice write-up, except for one thing;
NEVER, EVER leave your car on the jack to work under it! Raise the car using the central jacking point and place jack stands at the side jack locations(I realize you placed the spare under the car, but jack stands are made for this) then lower the car onto the jack stands.

Oszy · Sep 17, 2011

Thank you everyone. Hope this will help someone out in the future.

I know. But that jack is the only thing i had available at that time.
But the day after i went out and bought myself two new ones and a pair of those you can just drive your car on top of to get access to the entire car underneath

But the only time i was actually lying under the car itself, was when loosening the two bolts on the protective cover. Everything else was within arms reach from the side

UK-C200 · Sep 18, 2011

Excellent write up - I broke the same linkage last year, and was originally going to change it out myself - but had the car in for service and had 'em do it under warranty! ;-)

Fyrelight · Sep 19, 2011

Great write-up . . . the photos are a real help . . . but I am curious as to how the part broke in the first place? . . . general weakness?

Oszy · Sep 19, 2011

Good to hear. I suspect a hole in the road. But a friend of mine who is a merc mechanic said it might be if you slide and drift with your car and the jolt that comes when the wheel gets traction again might snap it.
The part is just made of plastic.

alibabu20 · Dec 14, 2011

Nice DIY info

DIY: Replacing the rear sway bar/stabilizator bar link

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