Replacing Front Sway Bar

Here we have a quick guide replacing the anti-roll bar or sway bar on the front of a Mustang. The principles are the same for most models of car but, slightly different designs etc.

1. You will need to jack the car up securely.
2. You will potentially need some skilled help.
3. If in doubt don’t do it.

With the car in the air undo the long bolts at the back of the sway bar onto the lower section of the suspension arm until they are almost off. (This is the new one being done up.)

Do this for both sides and remove the long bolts. Make sure that you understand how the fittings go together, as the sway bar and suspension should be separated by rubber parts.

With the long bolts removed or undone depending how you want to do it, undo the clamps from the chassis to remove the sway bar.

These removed clamps will be reused for the same size sway bar or must be replaced if you are fitting an upgraded 1″ bar. We are assuming that you are replacing the sway bar for the larger one now. You can see the substantial difference in the old and new that will make big improvements to the handling of the car.

We now like to cut the corners of the new brackets as they fit a little better onto the chassis but this is not a necessity. The clamps might need to be modified to make the holes align up with the chassis. This will just mean elongating the existing holes in the bracket. Keep checking against the chassis until the bolts will fit through the bracket and the chassis.

Reverse the procedure to fit the new one but do not tighten all the way up. Lightly bolt the clamps to the chassis and adjust until the sway bar is even on each side.

Now fit the long bolt with the metal and rubber configuration. Note that the new sway bar fitting will have a SHORTER spacer and must be used otherwise the nut will not be able to tightened onto the bolt. Here you can see the correct sequence of fitting – metal should not touch metal (except for the spacer obviosuly).

Repeat the long bolt on the other side of the suspension. With everything lightly bolts in place recheck the position of the bar. With everything in place tighten everything up starting with the clamps on the chassis then onto the long bolts.

Everything in place.

We would suggest checking the wheel alignment again.