ericantonio

Got me some Moogs sway bar bushing. Dang I can hear a nice THUD when I come to a stop.

Anyway, these are what I have at home, which would you use:
Petrolium Jelly
Regular grease (I have a tub of that stuff)
Silicon spray

I don't really want to go out and spend $ on just a thin layer of the stuff.

justintendo

waterproof synthetic grease. unless you like lubing the sway bar bushings periodically. i use bel-ray waterproof myself but there are others.
any grease would certainly be better than putting it on there dry. odd for it to make the noise coming to a stop, and not when it hits bumps.

ericantonio

It's worn. I was changing the sway bar links and I was able to move the sway bar and see it wiggling from the bushing.

Well, now I hope it's not my radius arm bushing that I hear when I come to a stop! I know I have to do that sometime but not right now.

justintendo

the sway bar bushing being loose usually gives a noise hitting any kind of bump, or a squeak/squawk if they are dry. coming to a stop/taking off is often the radius bushing or even a worn/loose rivet holding the radius arm bracket.
sometimes those sway bar bushings are so tired/soft they dont even make a noise when they are loose

ericantonio

Thanks for the tips!

I did manage to replace them. One of them was really cracked and falling apart. I did get sound coming to a stop, not a much but I have a feeling it will be radius arm bracket bushing bushing. Dry here in SoCal so the rivets are fine.

Just that it looks like a long project so I'll do it another time. I'll have to drop the axle, springs, shocks and get a strap to pull the axle. Sounds like 2 man job for me as I don't have space in my apartment complex to do that kind of work. And alignment shop said I'll probably have to realign it afterwards.

justintendo

doing it that way is tough and drawn out, but at least you dont have rust to deal with. its much easier to use a grinder or torch to remove the rivets from bracket, then remove nut from radius arm. the bracket and bushings can then be replaced and the bracket bolted back on. still a tough job for anyone that isnt hardy but is another way..thats how i always did them at the dealer unless there a need for me to remove the front end parts.

ericantonio

I mentioned that when I got an alignment at the shop. He said that's really hard! Harder than doing it the right way. He said "the new ones are probably gonna be twice a thick and the olds ones". Sure that makes sense since it's all worn out I thought to myself. He said "you'll have a harder time pushing it forward with new bushings on and trying to align all the bolt holes and bolting it on.

I figure he's probably done this before. But someone else told me that was just a lot of malarky.

PerryB

The beam has enough flex in the pivot bushing that I don't think you'll have any problems. Worst case you may have to tighten the nut to compress the bushings but I don't think so. Maybe ratchet strap the beam forward a bit. I would grind the rivets as opposed to disassembling the front end. Replace them with grade 8 bolts and poly-lock (crimped) nuts, as opposed to ny-locks.

justintendo

ive done it many times, abd several times taking it apart from the front...the "right" way is arguable. its only hard if you do not have a torch or are not very skilled with a grinder. both ways are not easy, you have to pick your poison i suppose..