alphatarget1 Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 How hard is it to do this? Mine started making noise recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 Just caught back up with this thread.... Alphatarget - Do you have stock or aftermarket sway bars? It's a piece of cake to grease 'em up either way. TPLGT - I've had recurring noise for the last 'nigh on year now. Squeaking mostly, not alot of metal-on-metal clunking. Regardless, every single time I've thoroughly greased them up it's gone away. This last time I loosened the bushing straps and greased them more thoroughly (including taking the time to clean the bars around the bushings and wipe clean grease on that surface by hand). Noise has been completely and utterly gone for ~2 weeks now. I expect it to come back within a few months. I chose a grease that apparently washes right off I bought a regular grease gun at pep boys or walmart or some such. I forget. I think it was $15 and I'm sure there are cheaper ones. The main thing I'd point out is that to inject grease into the cobb sway bar zerk fittings, you need a whip-cord style grease gun line. I had a fixed-metal line on the grease gun and went to grease them up...only to realize I couldn't access the zerks with the fixed line. I hate having to make 2 trips for one job Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphatarget1 Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I have Cobb aftermarket sway bars. Do I need to buy a grease gun to do this? I just thought that taking the bracket off and doing all that is too much work but... maybe I'll just do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 You can buy a grease gun and make it easy, or you can use a 3/8" ratchet with the appropriate socket (i think 13mm) and a crescent wrench to pop off the bushing strap, remove the bushing, clean the bushing and sway bar, and manually re-grease it. That's probably about 5 minutes per bushing versus about 30 seconds per bushing with the grease gun. Your call....the grease gun pushes out grimy grease around with new grease. Seems to work well; better for some than others. Whatever you do, find a really tacky tough grease to do it with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphatarget1 Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 I just bought a grease gun today and some mobil 1 grease. I can't seem to push the old grease out as it comes out between the bushing and the strap on one side.. The other the new grease just kind of got pushed out. Do you know what I'm doing wrong?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 Two things I've found help: 1. Firmly hold the grease gun attachment against the zerk fitting in a "straight-on" position. If it's not firmly held against the zerk fitting, or if it's angled, it often won't produce the pressure necessary to really push the grease through. 2. If that's not enough, take a 3/8" ratchet and the appropriate socket and loosen the bushing strap bolts a bit and then re-grease. Sometimes they are tightened so much that there's too much pressure against the bushing, not allowing the grease to flow through. 3. I take some paper towels with me and wipe the old grease away (visibly) before I start. I figure it helps the new grease lay down against the metal/bushing. Don't know, but it seems to help it last longer before it starts squeaking again. Good luck! Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSI Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Just a quick note here. Whenever we have a car around that we are crawling under and take the time to change the oil, etc. here is what we do while the oil is draining:1) Remove any accessible bushings2) Clean, and re-install with fresh grease3) Remove and re-install various alignment nuts - not bolts (tie rod ends, toe ends, etc that are not used regularly)4) on Imprezas, the long bolt through the two lateral links removed, cleaned, and creased. If any bolt is jammed, we will contact the customer and tell them. If it is not, we do automatically. To be clear though, we do not charge 10$ for an oil change, and we are that type of shop either. Very rarely do we do something like that. Basic things like greasing bushings and bolts go a long way to adding many more months to the lifespan of your parts, especially after market parts which for the most part, last 25% as long as an OE part. Long story short, we check these things 2 or 3 times a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 MSI - My indy mechanic (shop off the side of his house) is like that. I'm curious though, do you just Remove and replace the alignment nuts, or do you lubricate them at all or rub the threads with steel wool if you feel binding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSI Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 normally just spray with break cleaner, compressed air, then some penetrating fluid, back them off, repeat process, then re-torque. If there is other work to be done, or we are doing an alignment after (I really promote this ALOT, 2 - 3 times a year on street cars) we will remove, wire brush, and put anti-seize on them. Be careful about the anti-seize though, as it can affect the torque ratings.-mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 Jeebus I'm hitting 40k without an alignment on both my cars in some terrible roadways. I understand why you are saying that (at your level of service), but that might be a tad much for me! Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPLGT Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 I just bot a set of Energy Suspension bushings...hoping they eliminate the clunking....hopefully! Rehab is for quitters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted January 27, 2010 Author Share Posted January 27, 2010 Good luck man. I've got around 25k or so on my Cobb sways and besides needing re-greasing every 3-4k miles like clockwork (probably just my cheap grease), no problems running on them with stock endlinks. No other noise. A note on the grease: I bought some supertech "extreme" red grease. I put it in my grease gun and set that grease gun down on the top of a sturdy plastic shelving unit. The grease proceeded to immediately seperate into grease and greasy liquid, pour itself out of the grease gun, and leak all over everything. I've never seen that before (of course, I've never really had much grease before for any reason), but I'm guessing it's a by-product of some crappy grease. The plastic shelf is in a cool, dry, dark basement. No reason for it to become watery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinlsb Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 I just bought a grease gun today and some mobil 1 grease. I can't seem to push the old grease out as it comes out between the bushing and the strap on one side.. The other the new grease just kind of got pushed out. Do you know what I'm doing wrong?? A sway bar bushing is NOT a ball joint. When you grease a ball joint, old grease comes out of the rubber cup that protects the joint. The sway bar bushing has no cup, hence, you will see little if any dirty grease come out. "Belief does not make truth. Evidence makes truth. And belief does not make evidence." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPLGT Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Good luck man. I've got around 25k or so on my Cobb sways and besides needing re-greasing every 3-4k miles like clockwork (probably just my cheap grease), no problems running on them with stock endlinks. No other noise. A note on the grease: I bought some supertech "extreme" red grease. I put it in my grease gun and set that grease gun down on the top of a sturdy plastic shelving unit. The grease proceeded to immediately seperate into grease and greasy liquid, pour itself out of the grease gun, and leak all over everything. I've never seen that before (of course, I've never really had much grease before for any reason), but I'm guessing it's a by-product of some crappy grease. The plastic shelf is in a cool, dry, dark basement. No reason for it to become watery. Problem solved. The bushings that came from Cobb were screwed....the Tech said they were egg shaped. the new bushings are larger and should last and hold form better. They worked like a champ. I bot the ones with the zerk fitting but the tech said they was no need to grease. They're making no sounds and the car finally feels 'normal'. Rehab is for quitters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Island Legacy Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 has anyone replaced the grease fittings on their sways? My cobb ones were so badly corroded that I put new ones on because grease was not going through them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinlsb Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Problem solved. The bushings that came from Cobb were screwed....the Tech said they were egg shaped. the new bushings are larger and should last and hold form better. They worked like a champ. I bot the ones with the zerk fitting but the tech said they was no need to grease. They're making no sounds and the car finally feels 'normal'. BS:lol: "Belief does not make truth. Evidence makes truth. And belief does not make evidence." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinlsb Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 has anyone replaced the grease fittings on their sways? My cobb ones were so badly corroded that I put new ones on because grease was not going through them. Just neeed to grease them more, and leave a gob on the zerk;) "Belief does not make truth. Evidence makes truth. And belief does not make evidence." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPLGT Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 There is no noise so far. There are. Few people on this site who have the ungreasable set with no problems. I guess I'll see. Rehab is for quitters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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