Front Stabilizer Bar End Link Replacement

[FordFool2]

Wife complained of a clunking noise from the front end of our '04 EB 4x4. Test drove thinking maybe ball joint or strut problem but would only hear an occassional light clunk but not associated with bumps or turns. Crawled under and found the upper nut and bushing gone/broken from the passenger side front stabilizer bar end link.

Ordered 2 new ones from Tousley and they arrived quickly. Set out to replace them but struggled to be able to remove the old one. The link is basically a long 5/16" bolt with a bushing at the top and bottom and a bushing/sleeve in the middle. Turns out that the middle sleeve area bonded to the bolt. I tried to get a drift in to drive the bolt out but no luck. Ended up taking a Sawzall and cutting it a couple inches above the bottom mount. Then I used a pickle fork to wedge to break the subby section of sleeve free from the bolt. I had to do the same on the drivers side.

Thought the links would take me 20 minutes to replace but ended up taking a little over and hour. Hope this technique helps someone else down the road.