How to Replace Front Sway Bar Link 2006-10 Ford Explorer
Created on: 2017-05-16
How to repair, install, fix, change or replace a broken, busted, bad, loose, or damaged sway bar link on 06, 07, 08, 09, 10 Ford Explorer or Mercury Mountaineer.
-
step 1 :Removing the Wheel
- Loosen the five 19mm lug nuts
- Raise and support the vehicle
- Remove the lug nuts
- Slide off the wheel
-
step 2 :Removing the Sway Bar Link
- Apply rust penetrant to the sway bar link
- Attach a 17mm wrench to the top sway bar link nut
- Brace the wrench against the vehicle frame
- Turn the 16mm bolt at the bottom of the sway bar link to loosen the nut
- Remove the 17mm nut
- Tap the top of the bolt with a hammer
- Remove the sway bar link bolt
- Remove the sway bar link bushings, washers, and sleeve
-
step 3 :Installing the Sway Bar Link
- Slide a washer onto the sway bar link bolt
- Slide a bushing onto the sway bar link bolt
- Slide the sway bar link bolt through the control arm
- Slide a bushing onto the sway bar link bolt
- Slide a washer onto the sway bar link bolt
- Slide the sleeve onto the sway bar link bolt
- Slide a washer onto the sway bar link bolt
- Slide a bushing onto the sway bar link bolt
- Insert the sway bar link bolt into the sway bar
- Slide a bushing onto the sway bar link bolt
- Raise the suspension with a jack
- Slide a washer onto the sway bar link bolt
- Thread the nut onto the sway bar link
- Attach a 17mm wrench to the top sway bar link nut
- Counterhold the sway bar link nut with the wrench
- Tighten the sway bar link bolt with a 16mm socket and ratchet
- Lower the suspension by lowering the jack
-
step 4 :Installing the Wheel
- Slide the wheel into place
- Start the five 19mm lug nuts
- Lower the vehicle to the ground
- Torque the lug nuts to 100 foot-pounds in a crossing pattern
Tools needed
-
Hammer
Socket Extensions
Torque Wrench
17mm Wrench
Rust Penetrant
16mm Socket
17mm Socket
Jack Stands
19mm Socket
Ratchet
Floor Jack
Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years. We're dedicated to delivering quality auto parts, expert customer service, fast and free shipping, all backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee. Visit us at 1AAuto.com, your trusted source for quality auto parts.
In this video, we're going to be working with our 2006 Ford Explorer. We're going to show you how to remove and replace your vehicle's sway bar link in the front. If you like this video, please click subscribe. We have a ton more information on this and many other vehicles. If you need these parts for your car, you can follow the link down into the description over to 1AAuto.com. Here are the items you'll need for this repair.
Using a 19mm socket and a breaker bar, loosen the lug nuts on your tire. Raise and support your vehicle. We're doing this on a lift to make it easier to show you what's going on, but this job can be done at home on a jack and jack stands. Finish removing your lug nuts. You should be able to do this by hand at this point but you can use a ratchet if you need to. You can then remove your wheel and tire.
It may be a good idea to apply some penetrating oil to whatever parts you're going to be working with. Put a 17mm wrench on the nut on the top side of your sway bar link and brace it against the frame of the vehicle. You can then use a 16mm socket and ratchet on the bottom to loosen it. The sway bar link on these vehicles is essentially a series of bushing and washers with a sleeve all held together by one long bolt, as opposed to being a one-piece unit like some other vehicles.
You can see ours is pretty rough here, because there's usually not this much slack. That's actually what your bushing is supposed to look like on all four pieces, one on each side. You can see the old ones are worn down or cut there. It looks like they've actually fallen off over time. Once the nut's out, you can try to remove the bolt from the center of the sway bar link. This can be pretty difficult, so if it doesn't come out by hand, don't be afraid to get on there and give it a good hit with a hammer. The sway bar link will disassemble just like that when you pull it out, so just make sure you have all the old bushing material and all the old washers off of it.
Now you sort of need to build the sway bar link into the truck, so we'll start with a washer and then a bushing. We'll go up through the control arm, install a bushing with the tapered end down, followed by another washer, the sleeve, a washer with the cup end facing up, and a bushing with the tapered end facing up. We'll go through the sway bar, install another bushing. You may need to use a screw jack or floor jack to jack up the control arm to get enough slack on that bolt to install the sway bar link. Then install the washer and a nut and tighten your new hardware down. You'll want a 17mm wrench on the nut and a 16mm socket and ratchet on the bolt end. Just tighten that up until it compresses the bushings so you know that everything's nice and tight and there's no slop in there to make any noise when you go over bumps. Once that's down tight, you can lower the weight off of the screw jack or floor jack.
Reinstall the wheel and tire onto your hub. It's easiest to put a lug nut inside of the 19mm socket to start it onto the studs. Get all five of these down as tight as you can by hand, and then we'll torque the wheel once there's some weight on it. Lower the vehicle back down and put partial weight onto the wheel and tire. This means that you may have your jack or lift under the vehicle. Get the tire to touch and let the vehicle come down some without allowing it completely off of the lift or jack. Torque your lug nuts to 100 foot-pounds in a cross pattern.
Thanks for watching. Visit us at 1AAuto.com for quality auto parts, fast and free shipping, and the best customer service in the industry.
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