AmericanClubRacer Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) Hello Everyone! Today I spent about 2 hours and installed a 24mm Whiteline Rear Sway Bar on my 2015 Legacy 2.5i Premium. Below I will detail the install as well as the tools I used. Parts Installed: Whiteline 24mm Rear Sway Bar Adjustable MOTORSPORT Kit () Tools Used: Floor jack Jack stands Air compressor Bench vise 3/8in drive pneumatic ratchet -6in extension -12mm socket -13mm socket -14mm socket 1/2in drive pneumatic gun -2ft extension -14mm socket -17mm socket 14mm wrench 17mm wrench Vise grips Ball-peen hammer A view of the rear with the stock sway bar. First step is to jack the vehicle up by the rear end and place on jack stands. Place the jack under the rear differential and jack to desired height. I went rather high, allowed for much room to work. Place the jack stands under the reinforced section of the pinch seam, just in front of the rear wheel wells. Lower the jack, setting the vehicle on the jack stands. Remove the jack after it has lowered to the ground. I also soaked all the bolts I will be removing in PB Blaster, to ease removal. Damned northern winters lol The sway bar and support brackets to be installed. Removing the OEM sway bar is not difficult. In my case, the bolts holding the end links were corroded and required me to remove the entire end link/sway bar assembly together. There is 1 14mm bolt and nut holding the lower end link to the control arm on each side. I used the pneumatic gun on the bolt and held the nut with the wrench. Obviously, if you can instead remove just the 14mm nut holding the upper end link to the sway bar that would be preferred (as you would be pulling out only the bar) There are 2 12mm bolts holding each retaining plate over the rubber bushing. I used the pneumatic ratchet and extension. By my method I removed 4 12mm bolts, 2 long 14mm bolts, and 2 14mm nuts. You will then need to remove the retaining plates from the bushings, use the ball peen hammer to knock the lower end link up and out of the lower control arm. You will now be able to remove the sway bar from the vehicle. I lifted it up to clear the lower end links from the control arms, and slid it out towards the passenger side. The full removed assembly. Unfortunately my end links were super stuck on, the nut would absolutely not come loose. I had to put the bar in my vise, use vise grips to hold the upper end link bolt, wire brush and PB blaster the threads repeatedly, and the pneumatic ratchet to work the 14mm nut loose and tight till it finally came off. Comparison of stock bar to Whiteline 24mm bar. The kit comes with its own instructions on installing the bar and support brackets, but it is just a reverse of the removal. The main differences are: -Use their new bushings on the new bar -The lower control arms are held in by a 17mm bolt and 17mm nut. To install the support bracket, you remove just the 17mm nut. I used the pneumatic gun and 17mm wrench to remove the nut. You then place the bracket on the exposed bolt and loosely attach the nut. The retaining plates that hold the bushings and bar to the rear crossmember have the 12mm bolts. When you reinstall them, you do not use the lower 12mm bolts when also using the support brackets. You use their supplied washers and long 13mm bolts. -Also, the exhaust system is totally in the way of the driver's side control arm 17mm nut. To install the driver's side support bracket I needed to disconnect the muffler flange, and push the mid pipe flange above the muffler flange and rest it on the muffler flange to allow enough clearance. I then used the 2ft extension to allow myself to use the pneumatic gun to crank the 17mm nut on and off. There is very little room, but the extension/socket fit just fine. I also have the Nameless muffler delete, so it gave me more room than those with the factory muffler. That thing's huge lol The finished product! I installed the bar onto the end links at the front most, or "soft", bolt hole. Hoooo mamma is it a difference. The back end does not sway anymore, and completely tracks with the front. It is not pushy or "tight", just more "on rails." I cannot wait to see what the "hard" setting will be like with my RE-71R's at this year's autocrosses! Let me know if you have any questions or need further info! If you enjoyed this, please check out my write-up of my install of Koni yellows! Edited March 7, 2021 by AmericanClubRacer Added explanation for end links and spelling "Racing is important to men who do it well. When you're racing...it's life. Anything that happens before or after, it's just waiting." -Steve McQueen in Le Mans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0bdish18 Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Nice. Thanks for sharing. How hard would it be without a pneumatic gun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanClubRacer Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 Nice. Thanks for sharing. How hard would it be without a pneumatic gun? Not hard at all, I'd just recommend having a good sized 1/2in drive ratchet or breaker bar in case some of the nuts/bolts are stuck! "Racing is important to men who do it well. When you're racing...it's life. Anything that happens before or after, it's just waiting." -Steve McQueen in Le Mans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRu17 Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 I recommend using kartboy endlinks to take full advantage of this setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanClubRacer Posted March 30, 2021 Author Share Posted March 30, 2021 I recommend using kartboy endlinks to take full advantage of this setup I ended up ordering the Whiteline Aluminum ones, and installed later on (when I put the Koni's in)! "Racing is important to men who do it well. When you're racing...it's life. Anything that happens before or after, it's just waiting." -Steve McQueen in Le Mans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iyalla Posted April 7, 2021 Share Posted April 7, 2021 Very nice! I would take the wheels off if you dont have a gun, to get some room for leverage and breaker bars Also if you are thinking of this down the road and you live in the glorious northeast, get under there now and blast those bolts with some penetrant. Keep doing that every week or month or so until its time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graigabrey Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 (edited) Sounds really nice. I guess the performance is great as well. Personally, I’d like to see more of your car photos. It may look really amazing. So feel free to share the shots. I’m curious to see them. Btw, my friend has the same car. When I first met him at the store, he helped me choose some rivets (like those https://www.scrooz.com.au/fasteners/rivets/), and then we became friends. Soon it turned out that he’s a great fan of Subaru. As I’ve said, he has a legacy 2.5i premium too. So, yeah, I’m waiting for your photos. Thanks for keeping the topic updated. BW Edited August 29, 2022 by graigabrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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