Famous last words indeed! Just finished (started yesterday) the replacing of the sway bar bushings and stabilizer links on daughter's Camry. Why so long? Everything had to be original from 2000 as it was all solidly rusted together or rusted out.
The hex key fitting on the links were so rusted they just stripped out. The washer nuts on the links were rusted onto the strut flange. I had to cut them off. The bolts holding the bushing retainers were permanently rusted together with the cross member retainers, so I broke all 4 of them.
Spent most of today trying to get those bolts out of the cross member retainers. Of the 4, was only able to get one out with a bolt extractor and even then, I thought I was going to break the extractor. Mind you, the extractor grabbed everyone of them but I could only get one to budge! I ended up drilling the other 3 out and tapping new holes for them.
However, it's amazing, with just a few cheap parts, how the clunking and thunking sounds from the rear are now gone when the car is driven!
The hex key fitting on the links were so rusted they just stripped out. The washer nuts on the links were rusted onto the strut flange. I had to cut them off. The bolts holding the bushing retainers were permanently rusted together with the cross member retainers, so I broke all 4 of them.
Spent most of today trying to get those bolts out of the cross member retainers. Of the 4, was only able to get one out with a bolt extractor and even then, I thought I was going to break the extractor. Mind you, the extractor grabbed everyone of them but I could only get one to budge! I ended up drilling the other 3 out and tapping new holes for them.
However, it's amazing, with just a few cheap parts, how the clunking and thunking sounds from the rear are now gone when the car is driven!