Our son bought a replacement sway bar for his '12 Accord V6 and the replacement looks pretty straightforward. I did tell him to buy replacement end-links just in case they get damaged while trying to remove (rust belt). I've seen some instructions regarding the final tightening of the pieces and some say it's done with the weight OFF of the car while others say to make the final tightening with the wheels on the ground. Is there a standard ? He does have a Chiltons or Haynes shop manual but we haven't looked in it yet but will (I just remembered he had that manual this morning).
Sway bar replacement (Honda)
- Thread starter Hall
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Should be tightened up at ride height so on the ground or jack stands under control arms would work as well.
These types of sway bar link don't care if they are tightened under a load or not, the sway bar can move up and down freely once the links are disconnected.
It will be easier if both wheels are off the ground so you wont be fighting the sway bar putting the link joints in their holes.
These are not like trapped control arm bushings that need to be loaded to keep the rubber bushings neutral.
On my civic I don't think I would be able to get enough clearance under the car when it was on the ground to tighten these types of components.
Thanks Trav, for the clarification.
Thanks Trav, for the clarification.
How can you do the final tightening of something under the car with the wheels on the ground? The car will crush you 
ramps mbHow can you do the final tightening of something under the car with the wheels on the ground? The car will crush you
We'll definitely have it on jack stands while replacing the bits. Thanks for the info.
Well, in a shop, it could be on a drive-on lift and easy to work under. In the case of this car, it's certainly doable but on some cars it certainly wouldn't be pleasant.
What am I missing here ?How can you do the final tightening of something under the car with the wheels on the ground? The car will crush you
Trav, as usual, hits the nail on the head. Honda usually uses ball and socket type endlinks. Doesn't matter where you tighten them, they'll spin in the socket to align the way they are supposed to.
FWIW, Honda usually sets their cars up from the factory with a good amount of understeer (Its safer for the average driver), adding a bigger front swaybar is going to make that worse unless he's also adding a much bigger rear bar. On my 2003 I did a rear sway from an Acura TL and it balanced the car out better with the factory front. But all of that depends on what else he's doing to the car.
I was wondering if that was the case, and also wondering if Honda changed their front end design massively. The front swaybars are usually no fun to replace.
He should like the stiffer rear, it balances the car out a good bit better. And it's about a 20 min install.
We live in a rust belt state. If it takes twice that long, we'll be happy ! He'll probably want to do it this weekend so I'm going to tell him start hitting ALL of the fasteners with PB now and continue each day.
It depends on the car. My protege and Mazda 3 both recommend doing it with the weight off of the car for ease of access. The mazda 3 manual says as far as performance it makes absolutely no difference as the parts will adjust once the weight is placed on the car.
My 85 rx7 says to do it with the weight on the car in the rear, but the front can be done either in the Factory service manual. I imagined the rear was only different because it is a live axle and not a fully independent suspension.
My 85 rx7 says to do it with the weight on the car in the rear, but the front can be done either in the Factory service manual. I imagined the rear was only different because it is a live axle and not a fully independent suspension.
Yep, good thing he bought new end links. They are going to fight you on the way off, even non-rusted ones sometimes do. I wouldn't waste any time on them if they do. Cut them off and replace them.
The factory ones have the stupid allen sockets in the end, most of the time those just strip right out. I've even had some with the flats you can put a thin wrench on spin.
Replaced the pieces yesterday evening. Wasn't that bad to do. Two of the allen sockets stripped while two worked fine. The first stripped one was simple enough to deal with since we had replacement links and weren't concerned about damaging the existing ones. Just used vise grips and zipped the nut off with my 1/4" impact. The second one fought us quite a bit more as we couldn't get a proper grip with the vise grips. Ended up demo'ing the link and grabbed the "ball" with the vise grips and still had trouble. Broke out the 1/2" impact and --zip-- it was off. I didn't even consider using that bigger gun thinking there wasn't room for it but there was.
Negative ? The Moog links either come with minimal grease or no grease so they tell you to grease them. One of the four rubber boots swelled up like a balloon (my son was doing this part on his own and has never greased anything!). By the time he pointed it out, all I could think to do was gently "massage" it hoping he could move the grease around the ball/socket but the boot just popped. Quickly ordered a replacement via Amazon and we'll swap it once it arrives. We took it for a test drive and I was skeptical if we'd notice any change but I absolutely did. I drive a G35 and it's definitely firmer than his was but not anymore or at least they're close.
Negative ? The Moog links either come with minimal grease or no grease so they tell you to grease them. One of the four rubber boots swelled up like a balloon (my son was doing this part on his own and has never greased anything!). By the time he pointed it out, all I could think to do was gently "massage" it hoping he could move the grease around the ball/socket but the boot just popped. Quickly ordered a replacement via Amazon and we'll swap it once it arrives. We took it for a test drive and I was skeptical if we'd notice any change but I absolutely did. I drive a G35 and it's definitely firmer than his was but not anymore or at least they're close.
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