Front Stabilizer Bar 1999 Mountaineer

[RickMar]

Hello,
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

I have been hearing this clunk noise from my front passengers side.
I thought it might be a broken shock.
Finally I decided o take a look a check things out.
I could not believe what I was looking at ...On the passengers side front the
Front stabilizer bar link nut.
Front stabilizer bar link bolt.
Front stabilizer bar spacer.
were not there! THIS REALLY BLEW MY MIND

I have been noticing on the highway the Mountaineer would rock like a boat in the water when it encountered some good sized waves.

I have noticed in junk yards that many Explorers/Mountaineers had almost new nut's,bolt and spacer hardware which connected to the stabilizer bar.

Do you know if this is a common problem with these vehicles to have the harware wear out or fall off?
The drivers side is very slightly loose too.
How much of a danger am I putting myself and others driving with this missing hardware until I can get it replaced which will be very shortly.
Are there any tricks to putting the new harware on?
The only thing I am aware of is the nut gets torqued to around 50 Ft. Lbs.

Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Rick

 

[dogfriend]

Its common for them to be broken because the original sway bar links were made from plastic . I believe there was a TSB issued on this, but I don't recall the number. I replaced mine with a metal set from Napa.