front sway bar removal w/ pics

Here's some good repair guides for your Tercel :) Look here for help first!
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dlb
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My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
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front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by dlb »

we always talk about this but i don't remember seeing a good pictorial of it so i thought i'd document the removal of the one from my parts car.

first, jack the front up and put some jack stands under it. i like to put two under the x-member.

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remove the six 12 mm bolts holding the plastic splash guard in place and remove it.

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take the wheels off for better access and back off the 19 mm nuts from the ends of the sway bar. they will likely be hella rusted. an air or electric impact gun is your friend here, or at least a breaker bar with a long metal tube over the handle as an extension for greater torque. back them off just till they are flush with the ends of the bar. leave them there because you'll need to whack the ends of the bar with a hammer soon and you don't want to mess up the threads.

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now put the jack under the front center part of the sway bar and go up just until the jack touches the sway bar. you don't want to lift it, you just want to support it so it's not pushing down when you perform the next step.

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undo the four 14 mm bolts that hold the sway bar to the x-member.

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lower the jack and the sway bar until the jack is just barely supporting the bar.

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I do this part differently now than I used to. I used to pry the rear bushings out at this point but that's more effort. Now, I put a ratchet strap on the bar like this with just a touch of tension on it to keep the ends of the bar from trying to spread as I remove it from the control arms.

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Now take a big hammer and whack the end of the sway bar to break it free from the rear bushing. Once it's free, remove the 19 mm nut and pop the sway bar end out of the control arm. Do the same on the other side. Once the sway bar is out, you can remove the rear sway bar end bushings from the control arms with a punch and hammer from the front side of the control arm. They can be pretty stuck in there due to corrosion so you might need to pry at it, chip away, etc but it'll pop out eventually. Sorry, no pics of this step.

Now that the bar is out, pry off the front bushing and remove the metal tube (or what's left of it) from the end of the sway bar. depending on how badly corroded the tube is you might have to get creative to remove it--a hammer and chisel usually work well but i've had to carefully use a grinder to remove the remains of one. OTOH, if the tube is completely reduced to dust already, just give the sway bar end a good brush off with a wire brush. here are the bushings and bar ends from the parts car. looks pretty good, right?

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but wait, the tube on this one doesn't look so hot...

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oh jeez! when i got the tube that looked good off, i could see that the bar itself is bottle-necked quite badly! this is dangerous because it is under so much pressure when turning while driving and can snap, sending the car careening out of control. bad stuff.

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here are four of the sway bar end tubes i removed this last week. the two on the right are the ones that just came off the parts car and the other two (i'm including the non-existent one that was rusted and crushed to dust) are off of my current project car. if you're not sure that yours are in better shape, you should take a look sooner than later.

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to put the sway bar back in, simply reverse all these steps. make sure the sway bar is right side up when you install it or you will have a hell of a time trying to figure out why it just won't fit. i know i did the first time. use anti-seize where applicable but don't get it on the bushings because it will eat them. be very careful about threading the bolts that attach the sway bar to the x-member--if the angle isn't right you will strip the threads in the holes and that will create a massive headache. just take your time and be patient about it. last tip, use a ratcheting cargo strap to squeeze the bar ends a bit (just an inch or two) when you slide the ends into the control arms. this is much easier than trying to compress it by hand. make sure the jack stands will not be in the way of the cargo strap though!

i stole this picture of keith's to explain what i mean about the cargo strap.

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Last edited by dlb on Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
subterranean
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My tercel:: 1984 Tercel Hatchback SR5
Location: Golden, Colorado

Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by subterranean »

Hi there,

I tried to take off my sway bar this morning and my friend and I broke off the bolt that is on the end of the sway bar. At first, because of the rust, it looked like one solid piece of metal but looking at it more closely, it looks like that bolt was pressed in/clamped in. The intact bolt on the passenger side is exactly how yours is in the picture, tapered and worn down. I imagine the one that broke off was also tapered and worn down. Any advice on how to proceed? How did you resolve this issue with the worn down bolt? So far, I cannot find a replacement sway bar and it doesn't look like that bolt will come out of the bar. This is my only working (or was working) vehicle so any information you could give would be extremely helpful. I can post a picture in the next day or so.

Thank you--
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dlb
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by dlb »

there are no bolts on the sway bar. instead, the ends of the sway bar are threaded, so if you snapped the end of the bar off trying to get the nut off then you definitely need a new bar. and while that totally sucks that it happened. you are extremely lucky that it happened then and not while driving.

there are a few other members from colorado who probably have spare sway bars they would sell you. there is highlander and several others but i can't remember their names. look them up and send them a private message (use the PM icon located in their user info).
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ARCHINSTL
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by ARCHINSTL »

I echo dlb's comments and particularly emphasive his admonition about not driving it!
And while you are at it - get new bushings and sleeves! OE only - part numbers in the OE Parts Forum!
Tom M.
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subterranean
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My tercel:: 1984 Tercel Hatchback SR5
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by subterranean »

Don't worry! I have not driven it and walk to work most days anyway. My poor car is still up in the air at my friend's house.

As for the parts section of the website, thank you very much for pointing me in that direction. I had been trouble finding the bushings at the local parts places.

Thank you both for your help.
Acuna989
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by Acuna989 »

I know this thread is a year old but i'm trying to find the correct bushing for the front and rear sway bars.

Correct me if i'm wrong but For the front I would need the two front sway bar bushings. http://www.moog-suspension-parts.com/pr ... MOOG-K9540
And two control arm bushings. http://www.carid.com/1987-toyota-tercel ... 89963.html

For the rear, four sway bar link bushing???? http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_det ... ber=W22120

Let me know if I'm looking at the wrong parts or i'm missing something.
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dlb
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by dlb »

according to tom's post about front suspension part #s here

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6438

you will likely only need

# 48674-16030 ......" cushion to arm ...2 @ $10.49 = ..20.98 __(front cushion)
# 48675-16041 ......" cushion to arm ...2 @..$8.70 .= .17.40 __(rear cushion)
# 90387-14007 ......" internal collar ....2 @..$5.51 .= ..11.02 __(internal sleeve/tube)

the moog bushings in your first link attach the bar to the body of the car, and they rarely wear out. check them first before you order new ones because you probably won't need them. and the control arm bushing you linked to is from where the control arm is bolted to the frame, as opposed to where it attaches to the anti-sway bar. again, these don't wear out as often so check yours for play first before ordering new ones.

here's tom's thread for the rear sway bar bushing part #s.

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6444&p=47971
Acuna989
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by Acuna989 »

Thanks, you just saved me some $. Was searching for about an hour last night. Totally forgot about the parts number section.
smokerx
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by smokerx »

I pulled one using this guide yesterday.
-19mm bolts
-No jack needed. Junkyard bans them.
-before removing the swaybar to x-member, after removing the sway bar end bolts; tap the large washer behind the 19mm bolts with a hammer against the rearmost sway bar bushings. This breaks the rust seal between that washer and sway bar. The washer will jump off from the rear bushing expanding.
-Remove the swaybar to x-member. Grab the sway bar from this position, lift up slightly and pull backward toward the engine bay and the sway bar pops out dumping the rear bushing on the ground.

note:(THIS IS NOT KOSHER AND MEANT TO REFLECT MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE) After using channel locks to try to remove the end tubes, I was wondering if they switched the design and started welding them on at the base. This is not the case. It's Black rust vs. red rust. My original bar and tube had fully oxidized. The tube had crumbled to dust and half the width of the sway bar shaft was dust. This bar is unobtainium in my world, so I`m not removing the tubes. I`m accepting the weld as natures gift. Inspecting the ends, there's no red rust(only black),everything looks good to go. I'll take a pic of my old sway bar end when I get a chance to show how bad it can get.
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C130
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by C130 »

This thread saved me a lot of time, couldn't get the bushes in the control arm to budge, Chisel and driver did the trick!
spencercat
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by spencercat »

Just got my sway bar off, and am ready take off the tubes from the end of the bar. I'm planning to drive a chisel in the narrow gap shown and peel it off. Does the inner washer come off too?

However, maybe I should just keep the existing tube, given that it doesn't look in too bad shape (PNW car).
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spencercat
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by spencercat »

Nevermind, like I said this was a PNW car, so there's no corrosion to speak of. :) Got the collar off, which just has a touch of surface rust. Here's what it looks like with a quick wire brushing. I'm going to POR15 it and put the new sleeve and bushings on.
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Mogordo
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by Mogordo »

I used dlb's guide for this, and smokerx's comment (to reassure myself that hitting the large washer with a hammer was fine), a couple weeks ago and found them a help and everything went pretty smoothly. Thanks dlb for taking the time (ten years ago by now?) to put that together.
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dlb
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by dlb »

Glad this thread is still of use to some folks! I do it just slightly differently now, maybe I should update it.
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Re: front sway bar removal w/ pics

Post by Mogordo »

If you've found different things helpful since then those could be of use for sure.
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