BlueFusion on www.crownvic.net decided to install new aftermarket polyurethane swaybar bushings on his 2000 mercury grand marquis. This sounds like a simple task in theory, remove two nuts, cut off the old sway bar insulators, install the new bushings, and reassemble everything.

But on older crownvics, the frame studs often break loose and spin when you attempt to remove the swaybar bracket nuts. Using pneumatic air impact tools helps lower the chances of this happening, but does not completly eliminate this problem.

One of the swaybar bracket bushings





The studs in the frame were rust-locked to the nuts and spun when the nuts were turned. So they were cut off



New N806729-S436 swaybar bracket retainer studs were ordered from the local ford dealer



The nylon locking nuts were expensive at the local ford dealer, so a couple high strength ones were purchased at lowes



The aftermarket swaybar insulators come with a slit in them so you do not have to remove the swaybar endlinks to install the bushings. The slit in the oe ford rubber bushings was cut for ease of removal.





Swaybar insulators are wear items. In extreme cases of wear, one end of the swaybar bushing will turn into an elliptical "egged-out" shape. When this happens, your car's handling characteristics will suffer. By 100,000 miles, these bushings will have had the swaybar moving up/down millions of times.

On my own crownvic, I use replacement oe ford rubber swaybar bushings. But some people like the stiffer poly-urethane ones instead.