front sway bar bushings

[acharger68]

I need some advice on how to get the new set of bushings in the sway bar mounts. I bought polyurathane bushings. Was that a mistake?? I tore out the old rubber ones.That was a heck of a chore! Any advice on putting in the new ones would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Dan

[resq302]

Dan,

I had the pleasure of doing this to my 69 factory front sway bar and it was a royal pain.  The only repro bushings that are available at this time is the urethane.  What I had to do was take a pair of channel locks and basically pry/force the new bushing in.  Be sure to spray lots of silicone spray or use a ton of that supplied grease.  Another method is to cut the original weld and install the bushing then clamp and reweld the original bracket.  Since I don't have a welder, and I was worried I would burn/melt the bushing, I forced the new ones in.  Just be careful as I impaled my palm of my hand with a screw driver and ended up tearing one of the bushings.

[Shakey]

I bought a pair of rubber ones from Layson's for about $12.00 USD.

We used a portable band saw, put the brackets in a vice and cut one of the welds on the brackets, dug the old ones out, wire wheeled and sandblasted the brackets, applied a couple of coats of self etching primer, a coat or two of Eastwood's Under Hood black, slipped the new bushings in, wrapped the brackets in wet rags and re-welded them back together.  A bit of touch up paint and they were looking as good as new.

I learned this from Jet www.69hemi.com.

Here is a link with some information.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,15396.0.html

[resq302]

 

Figures..... oh well.... at least the poly will hopefully last longer.

[Ghoste]

I did mine exactly like Shakey.  I was trying all kinds of ideas to get a set in and an old timer cmae in the shop who worked for a local Big 3 suspensiojn supplier in the 60's and 70's.  He laughed and told me they had an enormous press to pound those things when they were new and there was no way I'd replace them without cutting the welds so I skipped anymore headache at that point and got out the grinding wheel and mig.

[acharger68]

Thanks for the great info guys! I guess I`ll cut the welds and do it that way since it seems like the easy way. Now I can stop pulling my hair out ! Thanks Again.