What tools do I need in order to do sway bar links at home?
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From: Philadelphia, PA
What tools do I need in order to do sway bar links at home?
I'm thinking about doing my own sway bar links as my first DIY maintenance item. I wanted to get a step above OEM which I believe is Moog right?
What tools do I actually need? I assume 4 jackstands, but in terms of power tools/hand tools what will I need?
What tools do I actually need? I assume 4 jackstands, but in terms of power tools/hand tools what will I need?
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Joined: May 2017
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From: Washington State
Coupe 6MT Premium RAS
2 jackstands is fine, the rear end links are a piece of cake and there's no DIY needed.
The front has a much more limited access but if you need more room don't be afraid to take the 3 nuts off the top of the strut assembly and drop it down an inch or so. I strongly recommend a piece of rope tied onto the coil ahead of time and keep the service jack under the lower control arm so you can lower it SLOWLY. Feed the rope back up through the hole at the strut mount and tie it off to the strut tower brace bracket. There's not a lot of weight to the assembly but the service jack helps control everything because it will want to twist sort of wierd due to the geometry of the front end and you don't want to strain the brake lines.
Be careful removing the front end links, there's an angled tab that is supposed to latch onto the knuckle but it's a flimsy POS and might bend or snap off, I STRONGLY recommend the use of an impact driver with good 6 point impact sockets for taking every bolt off, one stripped bolt and the whole thing turns into a giant clusterF and you'll be cutting them off with a saw. Use a heavy dose of PB blaster on every bolt, preferrably the weekend prior to the repair and then again right before impacting.
This job is all about finesse, if you try to just brute force things off it's going to kick your ***.
Impact wrench, open end wrenches, sockets, FSM for torque values. Nothing too specific and I can't remember the bolt sizes off the top of my head but it was just standard 14, 17mm type stuff. I don't recommend 12 point sockets at ALL for this kind of work though, too likely that they'll strip.
The front has a much more limited access but if you need more room don't be afraid to take the 3 nuts off the top of the strut assembly and drop it down an inch or so. I strongly recommend a piece of rope tied onto the coil ahead of time and keep the service jack under the lower control arm so you can lower it SLOWLY. Feed the rope back up through the hole at the strut mount and tie it off to the strut tower brace bracket. There's not a lot of weight to the assembly but the service jack helps control everything because it will want to twist sort of wierd due to the geometry of the front end and you don't want to strain the brake lines.
Be careful removing the front end links, there's an angled tab that is supposed to latch onto the knuckle but it's a flimsy POS and might bend or snap off, I STRONGLY recommend the use of an impact driver with good 6 point impact sockets for taking every bolt off, one stripped bolt and the whole thing turns into a giant clusterF and you'll be cutting them off with a saw. Use a heavy dose of PB blaster on every bolt, preferrably the weekend prior to the repair and then again right before impacting.
This job is all about finesse, if you try to just brute force things off it's going to kick your ***.
Impact wrench, open end wrenches, sockets, FSM for torque values. Nothing too specific and I can't remember the bolt sizes off the top of my head but it was just standard 14, 17mm type stuff. I don't recommend 12 point sockets at ALL for this kind of work though, too likely that they'll strip.
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