f1filthy

my 04 has a loud thumping noise i suspected was from the sway bar,i loosened the 4 bolts holding the u clamps to the frame and the noise went away mostly.the end links look and feel fine, i am going to try replacing the bushing and links even though they all look to be fine. anyone have a similar noise when normal driving and just say hitting a man hole cover or somthing small? very annoying.

beking

Im having similar issues. Almost sounds like something is loose under the truck. Any ideas.

f1filthy

i am not sure if it was the end links or the bushings or the loose skid plate bolts,but replacing them made all the noise dissapear all together.

Buck

I have the same issue, I just haven't investigated it yet

08REDFX

I had this problem on another Ford vehicle. It was the sway bar bushings. It was a clunking noise, that I had ver speed bumps mainly.

beking

Thanks!! Sounds like sway bar bushing may be the problem. I'm thinking that this shouldn't be that big of deal to replace myself. Right??

beking

Didn't mention it but I have resently installed a 3" leveling kit and 305 BFG AT. Think this may have contributed to the problem. Anyone else with the leveling kit had similar problems? Also I have read previous post of problems with the sway bars and it seems that must of the time the symptoms are a squeaking sound where mine is more of a "clucking sound" when hitting pretty much any kind of bump.

08REDFX

shouldn't be an issue for a diy'er. you may want to bump up one size of bushing diameter (outside) to help stiffen up the sway bar. The clamps should still fit. The size goes up in mm I think. In order to do this you will have to go with aftermarket bushings. I used these:

http://www.energysuspension.com/pages/swaybbct.html

Do some research on your own of course, but I was very pleased with these bushings.

Just to note....I used these on a Lincoln LS Sport sedan, so it may differ on a larger F150. It may just be an issue getting the right size. Also check ebay.

beking

OK, I have narrowed it down to the passenger side sway bar link. In the process of removing the old and can not seem to remove the upper bolt connecting the link to the sway bar. Is there a trick? Looks pretty straight forward, but the bolt won't budge Tryed my biggest hammer


Never mind, had to remove the entire sway bar and then it was "hammertime". I won.