Decided to spend a little money on my Monte ($150) and upgrade some stuff. Already had the rear sway bar but was using the mushy rubber bushings. Bought a matching front bar from a member on here. And with a little help from The_Maniac got some poly bushings to go with them both.

Some captioned pics of my morning. NOTE: Not a tutorial by any means, just some pointers to anyone in the future.


Rear caps. One stock and the other drilled and tapped to accept a grease fitting

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I drilled a hole through the bushing for the grease to reach the bar. After putting the rear back together

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Just started and alreadt suffered my first injury, ouch

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Cut the bolt heads and bottom washer off the front links. Had no plan to reuse them. And up here in the salt the bolt usually gets stuck in the spacer sleeve anyway.

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Dropped the cradle down until there where only a couple threads left holding the bolt in

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Be sure to brace the cradle. If it drops, you're going to pull the steering shaft apart.

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Here's where the right tools come into play.

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Old bar out, new bar in

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Again, drilled and tapped the front caps. Installed grease fittings and drilled the bushings.

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Links installed, everything bolted down, cradle bolt back up. Besure to retorque the cradle bolts. I usually set them to 140#

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The grease I put on everything to keep it quiet. You can't use petroleum grease with poly bushings.

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nice pointers

 

Hey Aussie, glad it all turned out good in the end!
When I did the sway bushings that hold the sway bar to the subframe, I used the brackets Energy Suspension provided. I also grabbed a bunch of rubber brake caliper bleed screw covers to put over the grease fittings.

 

I'll honestly probably never use the grease fittings. I plan on trading this in in 2-3 months and hopefully they wont be squeaking by then. Figured I'd make it easier for the next guy though. The fittings themselves are stainless FWIW.

 

what a nice looking sway bar cool project! i was never brave enough to drop the cradle

 

Not a big deal, I do it on various cars every day. Just don't touch the front bolts and don't allow the rear to drop too far. Doing a blower motor a Deville that requires lowering the cradle is even more fun.

 

FYI - For those who don't have access to a shop and the various lifts and support tools, the front sway CAN be replaced without touching the craddle. You have to pop the the outer tied rods out to get things moved around, but it can be done.

When I replaced my sway bushings I did it without moving the craddle. I also helped my father change his sway bar in his driveway on a '98 Grand Prix. He did the hard part IMO, handling removing and re-install of all the sway bushings.

Just takes time and patience.

 

You wont get the bigger bar in without lowering the cradle. I beat it in with a 48oz hammer. Not very much clearance between the cradle near the bushing and the bottom of the firewall. I thought everyone had access to lifts and millions of dollars in tools?

 

I know you can get the GMPP bar in with out lowering the cradle on a '98 Grand Prix (it may be a difference of aluminum cradle in the Monte and a steel cradle on the Grand Prix, as they may have different dimensions making it possible on one and not the other).

I know it can be done on the Grand Prix because I was there when it was done helping with the job
The trick with the Grand Prix was using the jack and jack stands to get the car up high enough (not end of travel on the jack, but up there). The old one came out with zero issues because the ends were broken. But to get the new one in we had to pop the tie rods off the steering knuckles. Was a piece of cake.

Again, like I said, the aluminum vs steel cradle may make the entire difference in the job (I have yet to do it on an aluminum cradle and hope I never need to).

 

I'm sure you could with enough patience. But my patience level is non-existant. It's always cool to see how each person does the same job differently. You also have to remember I'm always up against flat rape time.