Replace Rear Sway Bar Bushings

[billr99]

Back in November, I was told during my bi-annual inspection that the rear sway bar bushings were going away which was good as it explained a rear rattle that I couldn't pin down despite unloading everything, including the spare, in an effort to trace it. So a quick look in VIDA revealed that Volvo, in their infinite wisdom, departed from pretty much normal practice of having separate pieces in the sway bar assembly by designing a single available assembly that encompasses the bar, mounting bushings and a 2-part bracket. Some have said that the bushings are vulcanized onto the bar but I could find no evidence of that with mine. Apparently Volvo wanted $175+ for the bar assembly, and whatever labour it takes to remove one rear coil-over and drop the rear exhaust to R&R the thing (2 hours according to JRL's recent experience) versus the more common practice of charging $8 or so apiece for the bushings and whatever labour it takes to unbolt two bolts per bracket to replace the bushing (maybe 15 minutes total?). So there has to be a better way.

The first step was to try and find some kind of bushing. My XC has a 14mm rear bar and I believe that this is standard throughout the '01-07 model years. A search for cars with 14mm bars found a fair number, such as Acuras, Hondas, Mazdas, and Toyotas, but none of these had a bushing design that was comparable to Volvos. A BMW 540i has a bushing design that is exactly the same as what Volvo uses but the overall size of the bushing is lightly smaller than Volvos and therefore would not fit the bracket properly. To their credit, Volvo seems to use a fairly beefy bushing for a small bar. I ended up going with a poly bushing from Energy Suspensions (PN 9.5103 for a non-greasable set). This bushing is a hair larger in overall size than the stock bushing but that is close enough as a slight modification is required. Photo #1 shows one bushing/bracket right out of the box.

So the way this worked out was that I unbolted both mounting brackets for the rear bar. You will note that the brackets consist of two pieces that are U-shaped with one smaller piece nested into a larger piece with the whole thing encircling the bushing and mounted with a single bolt through a boss in the rear subframe. By tapping a flat-bladed screwdriver into the joint between the two pieces you can pop the bracket apart and remove it from the bar assembly. Now simply cut away the old bushing. Photo #2 shows the OEM brackets split apart, Photo #3 shows how the brackets nest together to hold the bushing.

The Energy Suspensions bushing set comes with two bushing and two brackets that are shaped something like the Greek omega (Ω). See Photo #1. By bending the bracket into a U-shape, you can use this bracket to replace the larger "outer" stock bracket. As shown in Photo #4. You will also need to slightly file open the bracket's mounting holes with a rat-tail file to size them to the stock mounting bolt. This will give your bracket the proper configuration to contain the poly bush. However, the bush ends up being just a bit taller than what the bracket (with the stock "inner" bracket nested into it) will allow, so I used my bench grinder to remove about 1/8in of the bushing height from the flat mounting side of the bush. The poly on these bushing is dense enough that a fine grain wheel actually works fairly well to make this slight "adjustment". Photo #5 shows the nearly finished replacement bushing sans the inner bracket and the slightly reduced in height bushing.

So using the provide "poly grease", I lubed the bar where the bushing would go and then proceeded to fight the bushing onto the bar. This is actually the hardest part of the whole exercise as you need to lever the bushing open enough to get it on the bar and everything is moving and greasy, etc., etc. As just about anything automotive, the second one is easier. Any road, with the bushing mounted on the bar, you simply place the smaller, lower bracket into position between the bush and the subframe and the larger bracket over top of the whole thing. Retain with the stock bolt and off you go. Hopefully, never needing to replace these things again.

Total time involved was about 1.5 hour, but all but about 20 minutes of that was working out how to do the first one. As I said, the second one was way easier.

Also if there is a wider interest, I can put something together for the "Resources" section. Just give me some indication that this is useful.

Cheers,

Bill

[chipenter]

Thank Bill I am in the same situation been looking at poly bushes , as the way to go you have just confirmed it for me , is there any difference in the ride ?

[JRL]

I paid (after some negotiations) about $96 for a rear sway bar complete and was done with it without any of all this BS

[billr99]

I paid (after some negotiations) about $96 for a rear sway bar complete and was done with it without any of all this BS

I believe that I read over on Matthew's site that on March 24 you were complaining that replacing that bar on an '04 took over 3 hrs and I quote:

"Had to replace the rear sway bar on my 04 (FWD) I just bought, the bushings were shot and it was making noise.
For some reason it was much harder on a 2WD than on an AWD (which I have done before).
Why couldn't Volvo just be like everyone else and have removeable/replaceable bushings????

THREE friggen hours , the SOB would not go back in, we had to remove almost everything in the rear,"

Now that is BS and it was on an FWD to boot! (How can that be harder than an AWD without the half shafts in the way? ) So I've sorted it and did so in way less than 3 hours. Next one I do will be done in less than an hour no problem. Oh, and total cost was $18 CDN tax in.

Later,

Bill

[dwasaurus]

Old thread I know. But wanted to say 'good job' in sorting this out for the rear sway bar. I spent a couple of hours searching the forum until I stumbled on this thread. It does seem a bit ridiculous to have to replace the entire bar just to fix a blown bushing.
Has anybody sourced a similar fix for the front sway bar? I need to urgently replace mine as I finally pinpointed it as the source of the annoying clunk on the passenger side of my vehicle.
Thanks.

[nbmedic9593]

Bill,

Thank you for your fix for this. Good write up (as usual) and keeping another Canadian X/C rolling..

[billr99]

Thank Bill I am in the same situation been looking at poly bushes , as the way to go you have just confirmed it for me , is there any difference in the ride ?

Not that I can tell so far. The roads around here are crap this time of year with the ground heaving a bit with the thaw so its rough going no matter how you cut it. But at least I don't have the rattle that I had before.

Cheers,

Bill

[Xheart]

It is a useful DIY.
The paper-clip button on message enables you to add photos. See attached image.

Thanks.

[howardc64]

Noticed one of my rear sway bar bushing is torn while taking out the leaky rear diff pinion seal. So got the same Energy Suspensions PN 9.5103 bushing bracket set as Bill in this post.

Question for Bill: The omega shaped metal brackets are 1/8" thick, looks tough to bend the L turn straight. Can you share your method?

The poly bushings are really stiff. Hope I can force them onto the sway bar

[billr99]

Noticed one of my rear sway bar bushing is torn while taking out the leaky rear diff pinion seal. So got the same Energy Suspensions PN 9.5103 bushing bracket set as Bill in this post.

Question for Bill: The omega shaped metal brackets are 1/8" thick, looks tough to bend the L turn straight. Can you share your method?

The poly bushings are really stiff. Hope I can force them onto the sway bar

Howard:

Nothing fancy. A vice and a couple of good "gos" with a sledge. Then I used a smaller ball peen to get the brackets into the final U-shape. The bushings themselves are pretty stiff, but a bit of the grease they provide and a start with a wide-bladed screwdriver will get them started on the bar, then its just a good push with your hands. You noted in my instructions the need to slightly grind down the base of the bushings slightly to fit? This is the only thing that takes some care so that you don't go too far.

I can report after 6 months or however long its been since I put them on, that all is well. I was under there the other day taking a look and everything was as it should be so I stand behind this fix as a viable alternative to the considerably more expensive official fix. Plus I think it does have a positive fix on handling although my old bushings were so bad I can't the tell if it was just new bushings or the stiffer properties of poly versus rubber.

Cheers,

Bill