How to Replace Front Sway Bar Links 2000-09 Ford Focus
Created on: 2018-07-30
How to remove, replace, and install a sway bar end link on 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 Ford Focus.
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step 1 :Removing the Wheel
- Remove the lug nut covers with a 19mm socket
- Loosen the 18mm lug nuts with the vehicle on the ground
- Raise the vehicle with a floor jack
- Secure the vehicle on jack stands
- Remove the 18mm lug nuts
- Pull off the wheel
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step 2 :Removing the Front Sway Bar Links
- Loosen the upper sway bar link bolt with a 15mm socket and ratchet and an 18mm wrench
- Remove the upper portion of the sway bar link
- Insert the upper portion and gently tighten the nut
- Loosen the lower sway bar link bolt with a 15mm socket and ratchet and an 18mm wrench
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step 3 :Installing the Front Sway Bar Links
- Insert the upper portion of the sway bar link in place
- Insert the lower portion of the sway bar link in place
- Counter hold the upper portion with an 18mm wrench
- Tighten the upper nut with an 15mm socket and ratchet
- Repeat for the lower portion
- Tighten the top and bottom nuts 37 foot-pounds of torque
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step 4 :Reattaching the Wheel
- Slide the wheel into place
- Start the lug nuts by hand
- Tighten the lug nuts preliminarily
- Lower the vehicle to the ground
- Tighten the lug nuts to 98 foot-pounds in a crossing or star pattern
- Tighten the lug nut covers
Tools needed
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Socket Extensions
Torque Wrench
15mm Socket
18mm Wrench
Jack Stands
18mm Socket
19mm Socket
Ratchet
Floor Jack
1/2 Inch Breaker Bar
Hi, I’m Mike from 1A Auto. We’ve been selling auto parts for over 30 years!
We're going to be working on this 2001 Ford Focus. The first thing we're going to do is we're going to take the tire off. One thing to note, this has these little caps that go over the lug nuts. There's two that are missing on this vehicle, regular ones are 19 millimeter, but because the caps are missing, we're going to have to use an 18 millimeter socket to get those off.
So we'll use a 19 millimeter socket and a breaker bar. Just crack these free before we put the vehicle up. Now I'll switch to the 18. These are really tight, normally they shouldn't be this tight. We're using a two post lift to raise and support the vehicle. You can use a jack and jack stands. Now we'll take these lug nuts off, use a little ratchet and an 18 millimeter socket. Take this last lug nut off, take the tire off. Just hit it a couple times.
This one's kind of tight so we're going to hit it off with a hammer. So I put one lug nut on, that's to prevent the wheel from going falling off when I hammer it off with a dead blow. And I'm going to hit right here really hard on the tire and it will pop right off. Now we'll take this lug nut off and pull the wheel off. We're going to remove the sway bar link. These nuts are very rusty so what I'm going to use is some rust penetrant right here. Soak that down and then the one on the inside as well. Do that before we start, that'll help us out. I'm going to use a wrench on the back side of this sway bar link. There's a nut that will keep the stud from spinning so I'll use an 18 millimeter wrench that'll hold that while I take this nut out on the outside.
I'm going to use a 15 millimeter socket and a ratchet. I should be able to take it off by hand, you can pull the stud through like that. Now I'm going to use that 18 millimeter wrench on the back side again, on this bottom one, just like I did on the top and then I'm going to use a 15 millimeter socket and a breaker bar to get this nut off. Just get it loosened first. Once it's broken free I'm going to use my 15 millimeter socket and ratchet. Take this nut off, pull that off, we'll take the wrench off and then pull the link straight out.
Here's our old sway bar link, here's our new sway bar link from 1AAuto.com. Comes with new nuts, comes with the same lock so that you can that you can put a wrench on so that it's easier to install and remove. Get yours at 1AAuto.com and you'll be ready to rock and roll.
All right, so we're going to slide the new link in. We're going to have this bottom stud go towards the center of the car and then this top stud is going to come towards the outside of the car. You can lift up on this sway bar, just get them to both line up. Once they're both lined up we can put the nuts, get those started, get that one started, then we'll get the bottom one started down here.
All right, then we're going to tighten this up with our 15 millimeter socket and a ratchet and make sure you hold the stud with your 18 millimeter wrench. Now we're going to use the 15 millimeter socket on a torque wrench. We're going to tighten this to 37 foot-pounds. We sell these torque wrenches at 1AAuto.com. Tighten the top nut the same as the bottom. Right, that's snug. Now we're going to torque it with the torque wrench to 37 foot-pounds.
Pull our 18 millimeter wrench out. So this wheel and tire when coming off the vehicle actually took a lot of effort to get it off. One of the reasons why is because of the two dissimilar metals corroding. You had the metal from the hub and also the aluminum from the wheel corroding together. So we're going to take a wire brush, just lightly on the wheel go around and clean that up a little bit. You don't want to do too much. You really don't want to sand down the wheel and cause any damage to the wheel but just get a little bit of that off. Just like that and then over on the hub we can go all around the hub, clean all this corrosion off of here, and this will help getting the wheel on and off. One of the things to help prevent this from happening is using a little bit of anti-seize lubricant. I don't like to use a whole lot of this, just a little bit, and only on instances where it's really bad so we'll just put a little bit on there then next time we take the wheel off it will be easier.
Now we're going to throw the wheel up and it went right on. Put our lug nuts on, just tighten these lug nuts. I'm going to torque these lug nuts with a 19 millimeter socket and a torque wrench to 98 foot pounds. We sell these torque wrenches at 1AAuto.com. You're going to do it in a cross pattern so that it tightens the wheel properly. And I'll switch to my 18 millimeter socket for these other lug nuts.
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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