Swaybar Bushing Upgrade

[NuclearN8]

Picked up some Prothane greasable bushings ( http://www.jegs.com/p/Prothane/Prothane-Greaseable-Sway-Bar-Bushings/981833/10002/-1 ) for my wife's 4Runner and mine. Today, I finally got around to swapping them out on the wife's 4Runner. Along the way I changed out the zerks so I don't have to remove the skids in the future just to grease them and I also changed out the mounting bolts (4 new class 10.9 M10x1.25x25mm flange bolts did the trick up front and 4 new class 10.9 M8x1.25 x20mm did the trick out back, in the rear I also used class 10.9, M8 fender and lock washers on each mounting bolt)....

If you want to replace the mounting hardware while performing the bushing swap you'll need the following:
(hardware listed is for a 2007 and while I have not yet performed this mod on my 2005, the hardware looks to be the exact same)
4 - M10 x 1.25 x 25mm bolts for the front (I didn't need washers since I used flange bolts. If you can't find flange bolts you may need washers to properly engage the bushing bracket)
4 - M8 x 1.25 x 20mm bolts for the rear
4 - M8 fender washers for the rear
4 - M8 lock washers for the rear

 

[toyotatech84]

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How does the ride quality feel?

 

[JeffMerr]

Picked up some Prothane greasable bushings

Other than removing the stock skid plate do you have to do anything else before replacing them? Does the front need to be lifted?

 

[ebg18t]

Other than removing the stock skid plate do you have to do anything else before replacing them? Does the front need to be lifted?

No need to lift vehicle.

Just undo the 2 bolts holding bushing clamp to truck, remove the bushing from bar, install new bushing (apply some grease inside bushing), replace bolts and tighten. Inject grease into zirk.

 

[JeffMerr]

What kind of grease?

Sounds like an easy upgrade thanks.

 

[noshortcuts]

How does the ride quality feel?

When I did my rears I noticed improved ride but when I did the fronts, no noticeable difference. Maybe the rears were worn and dry enough to be adding resistance?

 

[ebg18t]

What kind of grease?

Sounds like an easy upgrade thanks.

Something compatible with poly bushings. I put a tube of Redline Synthetic in my grease gun. I Use it in my poly UCA's and the drive shaft zirks. Lots of options out there, but this was one that DSM said would work well.

Red Line Synthetic Oil - Grease and Assembly Lube - CV-2 Grease

 

[S141995]

I did installed energy front bushing 2 years ago. Did notice a difference in handling but turned out I got issues with them. I'm from quebec and I think they did'nt like our cold weather. Finally got rid of them and putted back new oem bushing. I noticed the energy bushing were thinner than oem one. Reason : No idea ! but putting back oem one solve my noise issue.

 

[Code2]

Just a fyi when they say measure the sway bar do it

08 4runner sr5 with 2 wheel drive until i put it in 4 wheel drive

my front sway was 30 and the rear was 19

 

[RPC]

Have a 2008 V8 SR5 and will be doing sway bar & end link (thanks again Tom) bushings soon and am trying to figure out what size my rear SB is. Crawled under the truck with a caliper and the front is clearly a 30mm. I use my caliper maybe once a year and bought a Vernier Caliper accordingly. I feel like this thing is measuring at 19mm but the scale also looks like it could be measuring at 19.9mm (20mm). I read several places in this thread that V8s have had larger rear SBs than V6s, many of which seem to be in the 19-21mm range. Just trying to avoid ordering several sizes and sending back what I don't use.

Anyone care to venture a reading?:

 

[Code2]

Have a 2008 V8 SR5 and will be doing sway bar & end link (thanks again Tom) bushings soon and am trying to figure out what size my rear SB is. Crawled under the truck with a caliper and the front is clearly a 30mm. I use my caliper maybe once a year and bought a Vernier Caliper accordingly. I feel like this thing is measuring at 19mm but the scale also looks like it could be measuring at 19.9mm (20mm). I read several places in this thread that V8s have had larger rear SBs than V6s, many of which seem to be in the 19-21mm range. Just trying to avoid ordering several sizes and sending back what I don't use.

Anyone care to venture a reading?:

id go with the 20

 

[BOSMECH]

Well I am going to be doing mine here soon and I will measure then convert standard to metric. I have a 2003 V6 but I have noticed that some come with a split in them and some don't, I for sure want the ones with out the split so that means I will have to disconnect the sway bar end and slide them on.
The reason I want the ones with out the split is that they will work better and less likely to shift were there would be the split.

 

[RPC]

id go with the 20

Borrowed a buddy's caliper and got 19mm. 20mm would've been the safe bet though- if I had just ordered the 19mm, with my luck it would've been 20mm.

So for those keeping score, my 2008 SR5 V8 is 30mm front, 19mm rear on the sway bars.

 

[Code2]

Borrowed a buddy's caliper and got 19mm. 20mm would've been the safe bet though- if I had just ordered the 19mm, with my luck it would've been 20mm.

So for those keeping score, my 2008 SR5 V8 is 30mm front, 19mm rear on the sway bars.

digital calipers cheap now a days i think i paid 45 bucks

 

[RPC]

Did the swaybar & end link bushings swap and the result is every bit as good as others have said. I also replaced the zerks with angled ones that will make lubing easier and replaced hardware in the rear per NuclearN8's suggestion- the hardware up front was in great shape and I reused it.

The SB bushings are intuitive enough and following Darklight's tips was helpful doing the end links.

A couple things I ran into that I haven't read about anywhere:
- The Prothane SB bushing brackets have slotted mounting holes allowing them to be moved/adjusted ~1/3" forward or back. Because the new bushings/brackets are narrower than stock, in the front it was difficult for me to put the SB back in the same place it was (front to back) as well as be confident the SB was straight left to right. Does this matter? Don't know.
-- The new rear brackets were similarly slotted but the rear bar seemed to just swing back into one place and there wasn't much play to adjust anyway.

- Taking the top nut off the end links was tricky as expected but a 12mm ratcheting box wrench for the top nut and a 14mm wrench to hold the link shaft made it much easier.
-- The universal end link bushing set comes with 8 bushings and 8 slightly curved washers- 2 of each per end link, right? It's clear where the new bushings go. What is less clear is which of the stock washers to reuse, if any. There are three washers used in each stock bushing stack (at least on my rig). The two new washers seem pretty straightforward replacements for the top and bottom stock washers, but the stock washer in the middle is a special shape that the stock bottom bushing nestled into (from the bottom) and the top of this washer makes contact with the mounting tab that the end link attaches to (opposite the sway bar). My guess is that this washer is there to protect the bushing from excessive, potentially ununiform pressure but most importantly from making bushing-on-metal contact under this pressure. Lastly, the stock bushing has a collar of sorts molded into one side of it just like the new bushing, but it is smaller in diameter. This let the stock bushing fit into/couple with this special washer. The "collar" on the new bushings is larger in diameter and doesn't fit into the same recess of the washer. Picture of the bushing stack below.
--- All of this leads to the question, do you reuse that center washer?

These are the only two issues I faced swapping front & back SB bushing assemblies and rear end link bushings.

By the way, if anyone has a great answer for this middle washer thing, please jump in.



*Additional end-link conversation

 

[portrunner]

Can't get bolt off, help please!

So I ordered the parts for this expecting a fairly straight forward task with PB blaster and an impact gun but rust got the best of me for now.

When I hit the first bolt on my 4th gen with the impact gun, the nut inside the frame came loose, leaving me with no way to hold the nut to finish removing the bolt due to the limited in-frame access.

Did anyone else run into this? Did you just cut the bolts when the nuts hung up? Drill the bolt out? Were the nuts originally welded to the frame? I've been hitting the bolt with a dremel but its a tough one and I was hoping someone could let me know if I should expect the same problem with the remaining three so I don't get into more of a mess.

Thanks all!

-J

 

[Brutalguyracing]

So I ordered the parts for this expecting a fairly straight forward task with PB blaster and an impact gun but rust got the best of me for now.

When I hit the first bolt on my 4th gen with the impact gun, the nut inside the frame came loose, leaving me with no way to hold the nut to finish removing the bolt due to the limited in-frame access.

Did anyone else run into this? Did you just cut the bolts when the nuts hung up? Drill the bolt out? Were the nuts originally welded to the frame? I've been hitting the bolt with a dremel but its a tough one and I was hoping someone could let me know if I should expect the same problem with the remaining three so I don't get into more of a mess.

Thanks all!

-J

i will be doing mine in the am
i will check it out then and report back to you

 

[Velonici]

So I ordered the parts for this expecting a fairly straight forward task with PB blaster and an impact gun but rust got the best of me for now.

When I hit the first bolt on my 4th gen with the impact gun, the nut inside the frame came loose, leaving me with no way to hold the nut to finish removing the bolt due to the limited in-frame access.

Did anyone else run into this? Did you just cut the bolts when the nuts hung up? Drill the bolt out? Were the nuts originally welded to the frame? I've been hitting the bolt with a dremel but its a tough one and I was hoping someone could let me know if I should expect the same problem with the remaining three so I don't get into more of a mess.

Thanks all!

-J

Same thing happened to me. It was the one where the bracket for the bar has a slot so was able to take it off and cut the head off. Then I was able to fish it out by the big hole that is in the frame right by it. I then got a carriage bolt (round head but has a square under it) and was able to tie a string onto it and suck that through and pull the bolt through. Once i tightened it down the square of the bolt wedged itself into the hole. Granted I now have 3 bolts and 1 nut but it works. I hope that makes sense and helps you out.

 

[portrunner]

Same thing happened to me. It was the one where the bracket for the bar has a slot so was able to take it off and cut the head off. Then I was able to fish it out by the big hole that is in the frame right by it. I then got a carriage bolt (round head but has a square under it) and was able to tie a string onto it and suck that through and pull the bolt through. Once i tightened it down the square of the bolt wedged itself into the hole. Granted I now have 3 bolts and 1 nut but it works. I hope that makes sense and helps you out.

Thanks for the quick replies and nice idea about the carriage bolt. It is the same case for me where it's the side with the slot so I could hit the other bolt and see what happens. On the ones that did come out without issue, are the nuts welded in inside the frame, or are they just loose?

Thanks!

 

[Brutalguyracing]

i just did mine this morning
easy peasy
i would say if the nut weld broke off from behind
then do what the poster above said with the carriage bolt