Hi, thinking about replacing my old worn out front sway bar on my 65 Mustang. Never replaced one before and jus thought I ask is it simply jack the car up and unbolt and bolt on the new one?

 

yep

the tough question is what do you replace it with.

 

Unless it is bent, it is probably not worn out. The bushings could be shot though.

 

Maybe not worn out, but factory sway bars were tiny. A thicker sway bar does a lot of good for most cars.

 

I can't imagine a factory bar being "worn out". Broken, yes, which would be obvious.

The quickest "band-aid fix" for a front bar that isn't doing much would be to replace the endlinks completely as well as the chassis bracket bushings. Chances are that the new endlinks would still work with any new bar that you might decide to get.

It isn't much more involved than turning wrenches, although it's slightly better to do the final endlink bolt tightening with car weight on the front wheels.

There is this one other thing . . . DO NOT OVERTORQUE POLY-BUSHED ENDLINKS. It is possible for the endlink bolts to end up breaking due to fatigue that way. Snug the nuts up, plus only a little more. Use Locktite blue, which will hold the nuts in position until Nature's own (surface rust) takes over. If you tighten until the poly is bulging like OE rubber endlink or shock bushings do, you've way overtightened them. It is possible to have to re-tighten them later, but it's better to wait and see if you have to than to overdo it first and break.


Norm

 

Given the cost, I'd replace the whole setup with a new one...there dirt cheap. Just jack it up evenly, both sides of the suspension have to be roughly in the same place for it to line up.

Getting both wheels off the ground allows for an easy install. In fact you dont have to take the rims off at all just rotate the wheel to gain access.

Last tip: Just get all the bolts started, dont bother cranking anything down until both end links and the frame bushings are lined up and all in.

 

^^^^^ +1 like he said. Replace it with a thicker one. Car will handle much better.

 

I just put in a one inch. I understand that that is a good thing to do. A one and a quarter is too much per a buddy that does road course racing.

 

At the very least, you'd have to add a rear bar to re-balance the handling.


Norm