Sway Bar Links... Subframe bushing debate

[Tiger]

Hey Guys,

I know you guys has been hunting up and down on what cause the loosey feeling in our E34... The most popular was the subframe bushings and the insert, but most people who done it seems to be unimpressed as the difference was not as dramatic as they thought.

I raised the question on whether any of you actually changed the sway bar links before doing any subframe work... seem like not too many of you did. I actually finished that project today... the front and the rear. On my car, they were originals and boy were they really bad. The old rears shows tremendous cracking and when you pull on it, you will see how much bigger that crack gets.

The front links were tricky to get out... You really do need two floor jacks to do the job with ease... one to jack up the car... the other one to jack up the lower control arm to release the tension and set it so the new one can slip in. You also need offset box wrench to get the upper nut out... socket won't work and neither is regular combination wrench.

[Tiger]

The rear is a bit tricker... although easier... Upper bolt is easy to take out and you just lift up the sway bar to release the tension to pull out the bolt. The other side is the hard part... it basically slips onto the sway bar but you really need leverage to get them out... pry bars really helps here. Putting the new one on this same hole is well.... it is like trying to push a 1/2" bar into a 3/16" hole... Use car wash soap (undiluted) and enlarge the hole to 3/8" with drill... the actual hole will be like 1/4" instead as rubber do not really drill out... Then it will slip in with extra effort.

The end result? The car went from sloppy, clumsy, unsettling and clunky feel to solid glued to road feel. It even took away the nasty bang sound I have whenever I hit a pothole on front right wheel.

[Tiger]

I still have the subframe insert that I bought from Bruno... I am wondering if I should install it.

[repenttokyo]

The front links were tricky to get out... You really do need two floor jacks to do the job with ease... one to jack up the car... the other one to jack up the lower control arm to release the tension and set it so the new one can slip in. You also need offset box wrench to get the upper nut out... socket won't work and neither is regular combination wrench.

I did this job last week. It was TOTAL HELL to get at the nut on the top of the end link. I eventually ended up using 2 wiggle extensions and a 90 degree elbow 17 mm socket. It was such a pain that I only did one side, going to do the other one this week, trying a new method. It also didn't solve my clunking problem on that side of the car

What is an offset box wrench?

I was deceived by the bmwe34.net description of how easy this job is. Nothing in their tech article is actually in any way helpful in terms of telling you how to replace this part. Certainly not a 15 minute job - and 2 jacks, or at least, a jack and a jack stand are definitely necessary.

[Tiger]

Here is the HarborFreight one... the link I putting here is SAE... you need metric version.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32041

You need to do both side to get rid of the clunking noise. The other clunking noise is your steering system... my idler arm is defiinitely moving... also are my tie rods... I would change all this to eliminate all clunking.

Ya, I know what you mean... I spent like an hour figuring out how to get that bastard out... the other side only took me 15 minutes. The offset wrench makes all the difference.

Also, the ratcheting wrench speeds things up but final tightening requires the offset wrench.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=94315

Front is 17mm and rear is 13mm.

[repenttokyo]

Both sides, really? The clunking is only from the front left wheel.

[Tiger]

Think about it... it is linked to both side by the sway bar... if one side is bad, it will clunk.

Check your steering system when you jack up one side with wheel attached... grab at 9 and 3 o'clock and rock it back and forth... if you feel the clunking, then your steering is also bad.

Grabbing at 12 and 6 o'clock, if you got play there... you will also feel the clunking.

[BigKriss]

I find the front swaybar links to be very easy. I use a 17mm socket on the upper nut with a wrench also as for the delrin subframe inserts, what are you waiting for?

[repenttokyo]

I find the front swaybar links to be very easy. I use a 17mm socket on the upper nut with a wrench also as for the delrin subframe inserts, what are you waiting for?

I didn't have a single socket that would fit on the upper nut AND leave me enough room to attach a driver. And when you put a wrench on it, there is no space to turn - hence the need to either use the box wrench, or a small small driver, or wiggle extensions. It's really not an easy job. What size driver did you use?

[Tiger]

Yeah, I am not sure how BigKriss does it... I thought I got the widest selections of tools to try. I couldn't find my shortest extension... which is about 2" total... I think with 2" total extension, it might be possible but then again, I couldn't find two of them... geez! I had two and can't find them both.