Cutting Sway Bar End Links

[mcrane]

Anyone have experience cutting out the stock Front Sway Bar End Links?

Mine have rusted and the Hex and wrench method does not work. Used almost a gallon of PB Blaster and heat, with no luck.

Planning on cutting them out with a Dremel and replacing them (if I can find stock replacements).

Any advice? Tips?

Thanks Guys!

[TRDGriffon]

I would use a sawzall over a dremel, it will be much faster. I cut lower control arm bolts off at work quite often and I've never had a problem. Good luck!

Edit: You could also try using a thin pair of vise grips on the other side of the sway bar (socket side of the end link) and try to keep it from spinning that way.

[D18]

I had to cut mine off with a Dremel, after about 8 hours of cursing, pain and a whole can of PB Blaster.

Use the Dremel to cut the nut fastening the end links in place. You should be able to do this with minimal to no damage to the struts, especially if you've managed to loosen it a bit already. If your really careful you can likely even save the end links enough to reuse again, but you'll definitely have to re-thread them a bit, as I don't think you can cut the nut off without a little damage to the threads. No big deal though.

I ended up installing Whiteline end links. I bought them with the sway bars, and lucky that I did, otherwise my car would have been sitting without sway bars for a while..

[Dembo]

Originally Posted by TRDGriffon

Edit: You could also try using a thin pair of vise grips on the other side of the sway bar (socket side of the end link) and try to keep it from spinning that way.

I tried that, and the round bit snapped off so was no use. But worth a try.

Is this the end attached to the shock? Having failed to remove the top nut, I found the end attached to the bar came off easily. I'm fitting coilovers so it doesn't matter so much about getting them off the old shock, but then you need new links so I've bought Whiteline.

The other thing you could try is a nut splitter. I have one but haven't tried it yet. On an old car I got a friend with an angle grinder to help me and it took about 30 seconds.

[Ashikabi]

I think I still have my stock endlinks if you were interested

[JozhGoober]

I had the same problem. I used my big angry vise grips and clamped them over the shaft on the back side (over the rubber boot) and used an impact to remove the nut. Take a wire brush to the threads beforehand too, or it can get hung up some more on all that rust.

Also...don't do this before you have replacement endlinks. I almost did that, got a little caught up in the work.

[renfield90]

I've had success before using a Torx bit that was just a little too large for the hex opening, and then jamming it in there with a hammer. But I've also had to dremel one off.

You can drive without an endlink for a few days, just be aware that the car will handle differently and avoid hooning the car. You may find it useful to disconnect the other endlink as well so you can rotate the bar to a position where it can't hit the control arm.

[Devil 86]

Cut that shit. I had to cut mines off with a dremel after about 2 hours of pb blaster, fire, and many newly invented curse words. Now I'm running Perrin endlinks. They're beefy as hell and wrapped in polyurethane for durability. I would never put stock endlinks back on the car after going through that, especially since the car only had 18k miles on it at the time.

[Funk]

i have white line front endlinks and they are awesome . some people run without a front sway bar and endlink for drifting purposes

[mcrane]

UPDATE:

Ended up cutting them with a Dremel Tool. Took a little time, but was successful. Replaced with OEM from Dealership.

Thanks for your help guys!

[GeorgeJFrick]

I just did this. Our failure was not heating them up with a torch before even starting. With the lower bolts (on sway bar); we heated them waaaaaay up; then jumped on and they came right off (pb-blasted the night before).

The uppers we just pb-blasted; by the time we tried heat it was too late. Sawzall + metal blade ate right through them.

My coil-overs came with replacement end-links so I was fine, it might be a good time to buy adjustable end links...

[Dr. BRZ]

I had so much trouble removing the left side bolts and cut it like everyone else said and it made a bigger hassle! For all future references to anyone having the same problem, this method will save you A LOT A OF TROUBLE. I have a 165psi air compressor and with an impact, the bolts came off so EASILY! I wonder why no one mentioned this method.....it will save you the hassle, time, and some bad words!

[mrspindlelegs]

Whenever tackling front endlinks on these cars, if the hex opening is still intact, chase the exposed threads with a 12 mm x 1.25 thread pitch die to clear-out rust and then hit with some variant of penetrating oil and let it soak. Doing this will make your life a hell of a lot easier when attempting removal. If you are removing/replacing the front strut at the same time, only disconnect the link at the sway bar and the strut / link will come out as an assembly.

If the hex opening is too far gone, just cut the link off with whatever will work that you have available (Dremel, die grinder, acetylene torch, etc.).

[Caboose]

I ended up cutting through the side of the nut with an oscillating multi tool as it seemed to be softer and less metal to cut through than the bolt itself. Then held the back with vice grips and the nut was loose enough to get off with a socket.