[guy1138]

My wife's 97 bird (120k) has a rattle coming from both sides of the rear, especially under low speed deceleration, turns or going over bumps in the road. The rear also felt somewhat "loose" to me, but my other cars have very tight suspension, so my definition of loose may be off.

I got under the car, and if I grabbed the lever arm of the sway bar, I could move it up and down with my hand and re-create the noise. The endlink seemed intact, and although it was dark, it also seemed as if the bushings were in place.

My question is, what is the likely culprit of the looseness? I'll get the car up in a lift this weekend to give it a more thorough inspection, but I was hoping you guys could give me some direction before then, so I'm not chasing parts all weekend. Do you think completely new endlinks? Bushing replacement?

It looks like removing the rear sway is pretty straight forward, but any special tools or knoledge I should have before hand?

Mahalo!

 

[warmaster259]

Double check those endlinks to make sure theyre not broken, those sound like the culprit to me.

 

[racecougar]

Check the mounts.

-Rod

 

[warmaster259]

Check the mounts.

-Rod

forgot about those.

 

[guy1138]

Ok, I got under it again today in the light.

On the rear swaybar endlinks, is there supposed to be some sort of bushing on the TOP end of the endlink, where it connects w/ the sway bar? Because as it is now, the through bolt is rattling against the sway bar.

 

[racecougar]

On the rear swaybar endlinks, is there supposed to be some sort of bushing on the TOP end of the endlink, where it connects w/ the sway bar?

Yep.

-Rod

 

[guy1138]

Yep.

-Rod

Get to the point already, Rod!

Thanks guys, going to get the moog replacement kit for this, which is the whole endlink, and not cheap compared to my old chevy. Just wish I could get the bushing and press it into the end. Oh well.

Thanks gang.

 

[racecougar]

LOL.

An alternative to the Moog endlink kit would be the universal kits that most auto parts stores carry. They simply consist of a long bolt, a sleeve, bushings, washers, and locknuts, and they're cheap.

-Rod

 

[guy1138]

Yeah, with my chevy I could order just the OEM bushings, and it looks a lot like the one you posted above. However, the one on the T-bird looks completely different at the top. It's got a bolt that runs horizontally through the sway bar bracket.

Here's the picture from the website.

By the way, did you guys know you could get discount parts off of the www.partsamerica.com website? It's owned by csk auto (checkers, kragen, schucks) The beauty is, you can print off the page for discount parts and get a price match in your local store, and if they don't have it, they'll order it at the discount price too, saving you the S&H.

 

[racecougar]

Yeah, with my chevy I could order just the OEM bushings, and it looks a lot like the one you posted above. However, the one on the T-bird looks completely different at the top. It's got a bolt that runs horizontally through the sway bar bracket.

You just have to remove the little U-shaped bracket to use the universal endlinks.

www.rockauto.com also has decent prices on a lot of replacement parts for our cars.

-Rod

 

[park7163]

I have purchased these link kits on E bay .I just checked and the dealer is listing some at this time.The E bay item # is 300064271197.I think the set are about $30.00 with the shipping.
Hope this helps
Regards
Jim