Jmb106jr

Thanks for the great write up. Did my 92 CB9 in 45 mins start to finish w/ removing the tires. I used Moog links, what a difference in ride height. Raised the front about 1". And no more humming/vibration when taking right handers getting on and off the freeway.

Bad_dude

What about the sway bar bushings? While you there, would you replace those 2 as well?
Is lubing the bushings required?
Thanks.

HonBeer

Wheels are unsprung weight. So it does not matter.

MAD_MIKE

If they are worn, damaged, dry rotted then yes. Otherwise the sway bar will not be used effectively. A sway bar is a torsion spring, if it is unable to twist on its designed axis it cannot help control roll. The bushing is an attachment point for the bar, it should allow the bar to rotate freely. Grease them if using polyurethane bushings.

Bad_dude

So if the sway bar bushings are still in good shape, I shouldn't bother to put polyurethane ones on it as an upgrade? In other words, it won't do much for handling? In that case I would probably upgrade the end links.
Thanks.

Bad_dude

When you did this, did you have to jack both sides of the car up or could it be done one side at a time?

Thanks.

MAD_MIKE

Raise the front end up. If you only lift the left or right side you will compress the suspension on one side and extend it on the other. This will place the roll bar in tension. And will be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to reinstall the parts by hand.

dlew48

I attempted to replace my bushing on my 97 accord and after an hour I gave up I couldn't even get my stock bushings off. I even used liquid wrench to loosen the nuts it was turning but not loosening at all and no luck I called a repair shop and they said they'll do it for $85 but I'm really not trying to pay that to replace them any suggestions on how to get these things off?

Bad_dude

Cut off the bolts. They are all shot so you won't need them any more. You got the new urethane kit right?

Arthas

Im not saying youre wrong because ive never worked on a car with these kind of end links, but are you sure you have the bushings/washer order correct?

..Bolt..
washer
bushing
-----------------swaybar---------
bushing
washer
.. []..
spacer
.. []..
washer
bushing
---------
bushing
washer
..nut..

I feel that it needs to be like so

..Bolt..
washer
bushing
-------
bushing
washer
.. []..
spacer+-----------------swaybar---------
.. []..
washer
bushing
---------
bushing
washer
..nut..


Like I said im probably wrong, but it seems funny to me.

stompbox

+1 that makes more sense but IIRC OP said he did it upside down due to not being able to get them in correctly without taking the wheel off.

Bad_dude

Any one did this work using the Prothane endlink kit? That kit, 8-402BL, didn't come with the spacers and the OEM ones don't fit on the Prothane bigger bolts. If you used this Prothane kit, what did you do? Installed without the spacers?
Thanks.

MAD_MIKE

It didn't come with spacers at all? With everything installed is it;
Bolt, washer, bushing, control arm, bushing, washer, washer, bushing, sway bar, bushing, washer, nut?

Something I may not have pointed out in my earlier post.

Honda uses a crush sleeve inside the bushings.The bushings are never compressed by the bolt/nut assembly. Interestingly enough, need an engineer to confirm, but I think this would remove any direct bending load on the bolt. Pretty nifty design.

19Accord97

Did mine today! Super easy.

However, will over tightening cause any severe problems? I don't have a torque wrench that is small enough to fit a 14mm socket.

Also, does it matter if the nut is on top or bottom? From the factory the nut is on top and thats how I replaced mine. However, in the DIY the nut is on the bottom.


Helpful hint: To tighten I put the wrench on the nut (top) and I used the handle of the jack (used to lift the sway bar while installing) to prevent the wrench from spinning while tightening the bolt with a socket. No need to take off the wheel or anything like that.

MAD_MIKE

If its not the stock endlink, over tightening the nut will compress the bushings more increasing the effective roll resistance of the sway bar.
IMO with the nut on top there is less likely the chance for something to get caught or damage the threaded portion of the bolt.

19Accord97

Gotcha! Thanks!

BTW, it is the same Energy Suspension kit the OP has.

MAD_MIKE

Couple things I would like to rectify/point out etc

When I initially posted my earlier remarks on the jacking rail I was not clear.

The '94-'97 Accords do have a heavily reinforced jacking rail that can be used with typical jack stands. Makes for easy maintenance. Working on various cars in the 'fleet' I can often forget what car looks like what underneath. However my comments on the rocker is still factual. Only place stands where the jacking tab is. Othwerwise you may crush and bend the rocker which may damage the floor pan/frame and distort the body.

As for the endlinks, I still am not a fan boi of the generic ES pieces.
Factory endlinks do not place any preload on the bushings, nor is there anyway to manipulate preload on the bar with the factory endlinks.

With that said, if your factory hardware is still in good condition, but the bushings are shot there is a kit offered by Prothane 8403

that will replace the bushings only. These are designed to fit the factory hardware and IMO that system is the best way, outside of droplink/spherical bearings.

If you want more or less roll resistance the Accord came with at least three different front bars. 22mm, 25mm, and 27mm. And two rear bars at 14mm and 15mm.

curvenut

Hi,

is it worth to buy the high end link kit or just the cheapest one will do the job ???
I plan to keep my accord 1996 2-3 more years.

cheapest link kit @9$

expensive link kit @21$

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...Bfor%2BLeacree



Thanks for your input !

MAD_MIKE

If the hardware is fine just replace the bushings. Honda sells the front and rear bushings for fairly cheap.
Front end link bushings, you will need eight.
51314-SM4-020 RUBBER, STABILIZER END $3.43 (Majestic 2.40)
Rear drop link bushings, you will need four.
52316-SA5-000 BUSH, STABILIZER END $2.10 (Majestic 1.47)

IMO the cheapest thing would be to purchase four of the rear bushings from Honda, and then for the front purchase the Prothane front kit 8403 from an online retailer, they usually have 8403, with all eight front link bushings, for ~$8. Should be able to get the bushings you need for ~$20.

That is as long as all the hardware is still fine on your car.

Most of the aftermarket front link kits are generic bolt/washer kits without the crush sleeve. And the rear link kits are overpriced when all you need is the bushing for $2 each($8.40 total), not the whole link for $10 each($20 total).

curvenut

The hardware are pretty rusted as far as I can see. I think changing it is better.

So the aftermarket front link kit like the one @9$ II showed from Rockauto website, are they safe ?


Thanks for your input Mike,

MAD_MIKE

On the rear when you purchase new drop links it is only the link itself, no hardware. If the drop link itself is fine it would be cheaper to just purchase the four bushings from Honda, and whatever hardware you will need. IOW you will need to disassemble the links to see what is damaged.
You will have to verify that the front kits are for both sides. Most kits are just a single side. If you need the hardware as well, just use the ES kit as mentioned in this thread. Usually ~$10 comes with hardware/bushigns for both sides.

MAD_MIKE

Finally got around to installing Prothane's 8-403-BL kit. Cheapest I found was Amazon with free shipping. It's a small box and will fit in most mailboxes, but not all mail slots.

With the front end jacked up and supported the wheels came off, followed by the endlinks. A 12mm closed box end wrench and 12mm 3/8" drive w/extension make for short work in removal.
With the endlinks disassembled, inspect the crush sleeves the original bushings slide over. On the ends of the sleeves with the upper and lower most bushing mounted, there was a build up of what appeared to be rubber. It seemed to have self vulcanized itself to the sleeve. Using a utility knife I was able to remove/scrape off all the rubber bits and then cleaned up the sleeves. Same for the cupped washers.

With all the parts cleaned up I sparingly used the provided grease. Only a 1/3 of the mini packet was used to grease both endlinks and all eight bushings.

Tightened endlinks to 14lbft, installed wheels and went for a drive.
me gusta.

Car is much flatter around corners, no more excessive leaning and the steering is back to its 'heavy' FWD feel.

Prior to this I had already replaced the front sway bar mounts(B/A rubber), rear sway bar mounts(B/A rubber) and rear droplink bushings(Honda rubber). Going to have to relearn to drive the car as it gives little inclination of leaning.

What I did find surprising is that the old bushings from inspection two years ago have cracked and checked severely. Fairly sure they are the original 280Kmile ones.

Fitz Williams

iTrader: (1)

What I would like to do is replace the bushings with the link from a Gen 4 Prelude. If the Prelude sway bar would interchange with the Accord one, it might not be all that hard. I have thought about pulling one at the salvage yard just to see, but that's a lot of work.

Brocko

Here's some general advice to all about the sway bar front end links 97 accord:
Get the kit with the new bolts and bushings. It's listed earlier in this post. The metal in the old hardware was caked with dried old rubber. I would have saved myself about 30 minutes if I didnt have to clean the old hardware.
I lubed with silicone dielectric
Be sure to clean the sway bar to bushing contact surfaces. I used a wire brush attachment on a die grinder.
I had the car on jack stands. I used the floor jack to raise and lower the sway bar ends during installation.
Very cheap upgrade to handling of car. Less body roll.

I'm looking into the bushings that hold the bar to the subframe next.

CRZ1

I use Energy Suspension 16.8105G End Link Bushing Set to install it on 97 accord.

I tried to torque to 14 ft lb. But before reach 14 ft lb, the Polyurethane's shape is severely compressed. I am afraid I tighten it too much, so I loose several thread let it looks like OP's finish picture. In Mike's picture, the Polyurethane's shape does not change much.

Our parts are different from OEM rubber, do we still need to tighten to 14 ft lb?