850 Sway bar bushing Topic is solved

Post by **manovlov** » 12 Jul 2021, 00:36

Hy Buddies !

I have a question. I would like to know if it is usefull to extract the sway bar to change bushing ,
If i unscrew it without taking half down the engine frame is it possible ?

: Sway bar bushing.jpg (10.18 KiB) Viewed 1308 times

Manov

Post by **erikv11** » 12 Jul 2021, 09:02

As far as I know, the only way to remove the sway bar is to drop down the rear of the subframe.

The bushings are vulcanized onto the sway bar, they are difficult to remove. Some people have burned them off.

Post by **Sveedy** » 12 Jul 2021, 09:17

^ That's interesting. I just did the sway bar end links and bushings yesterday on my Cherokee and, like every other car or truck I've worked on, the bushings are not bonded to the bar. Very easy to swap out. I wonder why they felt the need to bond them. Obviously the replacement ones won't be, so then why bond them in the first place? I've had very good results using the poly bushings.

Post by **scot850** » 12 Jul 2021, 13:05

I recall my brother saying that the Volvo techs he knew said Volvo did the bonding to stop groaning of a standard seal that is only clamped around an anti sway-bar Problem is when the detach they are worse as you have to clean all the old material off. Volvo did strangely sell replacement bushes but I understand they didn't last long (2 years?). Even poly-bushes are no great fix for this either. I know IPD with their kits say you are supposed to re-grease the poly-bushes every 6,000 miles if I recall correctly. I replaced the IPD bushes with Energy bushes as they had a grease nipple on them so you didn't have to remove the clamp that you can't access with a torque wrench without dropping the sub-frame. You might be able to that with IPD bushes too by drilling and tapping in a grease nipple.

Neil.

Post by **manovlov** » 12 Jul 2021, 13:54

scot850 wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 13:05 I recall my brother saying that the Volvo techs he knew said Volvo did the bonding to stop groaning of a standard seal that is only clamped around an anti sway-bar Problem is when the detach they are worse as you have to clean all the old material off. Volvo did strangely sell replacement bushes but I understand they didn't last long (2 years?). Even poly-bushes are no great fix for this either. I know IPD with their kits say you are supposed to re-grease the poly-bushes every 6,000 miles if I recall correctly. I replaced the IPD bushes with Energy bushes as they had a grease nipple on them so you didn't have to remove the clamp that you can't access with a torque wrench without dropping the sub-frame. You might be able to that with IPD bushes too by drilling and tapping in a grease nipple.

Neil.

Salut Neil,

Thanks for your post. Unfortunaltly, IPD doesn't send stuff to France. I think that it will be more simple to replace the bushes. Following your explanation, i've found these ones :

https://www.hippo-deals.com/energy-susp ... 38870.html

: Bushes.jpg (190.42 KiB) Viewed 1268 times

I don't know if they do fit for my 850, if someone knows. Otherwise, there is the options of the "poly ones", but i've always heard that they give the drive experience more rigid... I need feedback on this point. I've read an excellent article on the subject, from FCP blog, but it concernes only P2 chassis which is not the 850 :

https://blog.fcpeuro.com/the-trick-to-r ... 70-s60-s80

I think to replace the bushes by getting half down the engine back frame is the best way to realize the operation to replace these bushes...

Manov

Post by **Sveedy** » 12 Jul 2021, 14:19

I believe that your front anti sway bar is 20mm. You could check with calipers to be sure.
Be careful about what you use to grease poly bushings. Some lubricants will break down the poly over time.
https://www.suspension.com/blog/the-bes ... -bushings/

Post by **manovlov** » 12 Jul 2021, 14:52

Salut Sweedy,

Very interesting article to read. I think I'm gonna take poly bushes with grease from the seller, and a control once a year.

i hope i will succeed in to unbolt all the bolts without much difficulty.

Thanks for your post.

Manov

Post by **Chuck W** » 12 Jul 2021, 15:40

The stock bushings are bonded to the bar. I've tried burning them off, but in the end, I cut them off and ground off the residual bushing material.

We have poly bushings on both cars. The biggest issue we've run into is a "clunk" as the bar slides back and forth when the front suspension travels over uneven surfaces. Yes, the bar will move side-to-side and you will hear a clunk.
The IPD bars had a stop welded to the bar that rested on the in-board side of the bushing to prevent this.
We've used clamp-on brackets on ours and that has helped the issue.

We'll be putting a new bar on the wife's car in the near future. I'll probably weld stops on that one before I install it, instead of using the clamps.

Post by **manovlov** » 12 Jul 2021, 15:51

Salut Chuck W

To precise my issue, when i have replaced my front suspensions, I've seen that the bushes were old on the stabilizer bar, cracked, but still in one piece apparently. They seem to be OEM ones. Slowly, i replace each part that be needed. I want to recover back the smooth steering and driving sensation, which the suspensions replacements starts to go to reach this goal. I need also the replace the steering fluid by the way because i didn't know when it has be done the last time (if it has been done anyway...).

Manov

Post by **Chuck W** » 12 Jul 2021, 16:10

Having done this upgrade while undertaking other major work that involved removing the subframe, I don't think it's worth the effort to swap the bushings out on a stock sway bar just to do it.

If you're upgrading the sway bar, do it then. Otherwise, unless the bar is rattling around in the stock bushings, I wouldn't expend the effort.