Just spent the weekend sorting a noisy front sway bar due to a failed bushing in my 2001 V70XC.
Inspired by Bill's alternative bushing replacement method for the rear sway bar bushing,
http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showth...light=sway+bar
I was looking for a similar fix for the front sway bar. I couldn't stomach paying $220 to buy a new sway bar when my sway bar was still perfectly good, just because Volvo decided to make non-replaceable bushings that are vulcanized to the bar.
As the 2001 XC70 has a front sway bar with a diameter of 22.7 mm, I purchased a universal sway bar bushing from Energy Suspensions, item 9.5108. This is a polyurethane bushing with an ID of 7/8" or 22mm. I figured i'd go a bit smaller rather than order a 23 mm bushing and have it not be tight.
This is a non-greasable bushing. They sell two styles and of bushings and this is the slightly larger style with a height of 1 and 3/4 " and a length of 4 and 1/2" which is very similar to the size of the xc70 bushing/bracket, and it has bolt slots that correspond to the bolt holes in the xc70.
http://energysuspension.com/universa...-bushings.html
The installation is a bit of work as it requires dropping the subframe but it would have to be done anyway to replace the entire bar.
The installation went quite smoothly. I used the IPD sway bar installation instructions to guide me in removal of the sway bar. The bar came out fine. The old bushings and brackets had to be removed from the bar - this required drilling out the bolt hole bushes that hold the bottom plate of the bracket to the upper U-shaped portion. This allowed the bottom plate to be removed from the top bracket and then removed from the rubber bushing.
I cut the bushing off the bar and then used a wire wheel to take off any remaining rubber stuck on the bar. A quick coat of rapid dry rust paint and the bar was ready for the new bushing.
The bushings opened up nicely and could be placed on the bar in the appropriate location using the lube included with the Energy Suspensions bushing.
I decided to use the bottom plate of the original bushing bracket with the new upper U-shaped bracket that came with the replacement bushing. I think it could also have been bolted directly to the subframe with out this piece of metal but i thought it would help me centre the bushing better. The cut portion of the bushing should face the front of the car I believe.
It all bolted together great. As I mentioned, the bushing was actually a bit smaller in diameter than the bar so I have about 2mm of opening in the bushing even after tightening down the bracket. This won't affect performance but I'd use the 23 mm bushing next time - item #9.5115 ( or whatever the OD of your bar measures at). Make sure to measure the side distance of the sway bar from the subframe on each side to make sure it's centred before tightening down the bolts.
The only additions i'd make to the IPD intructions is to remove the bolt that attaches some AC lines to front of the subframe under the steering rack. This is not mentioned in the instructions but this line is bolted to the subframe and then twists up over the steering rack and is attached to the steering rack. As the rack needs to be separated from the subframe when the subframe is lowered this stresses this line and limits the separation of the two parts.
Whole job cost me about 20 bucks and I think I could now replace these new bushings with the sway bar in the car if they ever needed to be replaced, maybe even without lowering the subframe.
Of additional note, I did my LCA bushings at the same time and getting the control arms out with the subframe lowered was very easy as it made getting the ball joints out of the arm very simple and I didn't even have to remove the drive axle bolt at all or jack up the engine. Might be a good alternative method as many people have had trouble with this job.
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