Daily Driver Garage: Front Suspension Fix

Posted by GreaseGirl on Oct 1, 2011 in How-To & Tech | 2 comments

How to Change Sway Bar Links in a 2002 Ford Focus

My friend had been experiencing a squeeking sound from her front suspension – mainly when she was making a turn. A mechanic she frequents suggested it was the sway bar linkages that were causing this squeek and quoted her a $47 per linkage plus whatever labor charges were incurred. Knowing I was out of work and could use a buck, she asked me if I could do the job for her instead. I looked up the linkage on a Ford Focus and saw that it was something I could handle – so to the garage I went! (I also had an exciting time finding the air filter, read about that here.)

Checking up on Ford Focus Front Suspension Linkages online, I found them to cost anywhere between about $12 and $20 per part. I ended up getting the parts from Autozone, they cost me $12.99 a piece, and were in stock at the nearest store. Already, this saved my friend $68.02 in parts.

Step-by-Step How To Change Sway Bar Linkages

1.  The first thing to do of course is jack up the car. Since I don’t usually work on modern cars, this proved to be more of a challenge for me then jacking up my 1955 Studebaker. After looking over the undercarriage, I was able to find a solid piece in the center of the front behind the engine area to jack it from.

2. This job will be much easier if you remove the front tires. You won’t be wasting time – you’ll be saving it, believe me.

3. The sway bar linkages should be very easy to see, sitting just behind the springs. Because these are only supporting and not actually making up the suspension – you don’t need to worry about the parts being held under tension and can simply unbolt the linkage part.

The sway bar linkage is held on by two bolts. I was a little worried that my friend’s 9 year old car that had lived in salty-roaded Michigan for a few years would have rusted-tight bolts. Wondering if I was going to have to make a trip out for brake-cleen or worse yet to borrow a torch to loosen them, I decided to try it first. With a little persistence and using a longer-handled socket wrench to provide more leverage, I was in business and the bolts were off.

4. I replaced the driver’s side first and was very surprised to feel the difference in comparing the old part with the new. It was clear that the new part was superior. In researching this topic on Ford Forums before starting the job, I learned that many Ford Focus have the same problem with their car’s suspension. The original part is inherently weak – so a swap is a good idea! When I got over to the second linkage on the passenger side, I was amazed to find that on one side the ball was completely disconnected from the joint and so the whole part had just been dangling around and not doing her suspension a bit of good!

Although the old sway bar didn’t have grease fittings, the new ones did. Each end has a small hole, which the zerk fittings provided in the kit need to be screwed into. *Tip: I wasn’t sure what was up with these holes initially because they weren’t threaded. The zerk fittings will thread themselves as you screw them into the holes. Because I wasn’t sure, I waited until I had already put the sway bar linkages onto the car to put the zerk fittings on…don’t do this…stuff gets in the way! Put the zerk fittings into the holes before placing the new linkages in the car.*

Taking out the old ones, I placed the new sway bar linkages in and bolted them on using the new bolts provided for in the new sway bar linkage kit.

This job was super easy – a few bolts and that’s it. Highly recommended that if you like to spend some time in the garage – you do this at home. On parts alone I saved my friend $68.02, not to mention labor. She reports that although the squeek isn’t completely gone – it’s significantly less and she can feel that the car handles better when she drives.