Front sway bar links??

[franktank25]

I have a 1996 Explorer Sport. Shows signs of uneven front tire wear. Upon inspecting the ball joints I discovered that both ends of the front sway bar have broken loose. The ball joints to not appear to be bad. I'm on a tight budget. Would the sway bar being disconnected cause tire wear on the inside of the tire and not the outside. Or should I just replace the ball joints even if they appear to be fine. Help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

 

[R1dd1cK]

If I was you I would get the swaybar end links fixed. They will make the handling a lot better. Then I would go some place like tires plus that will do free alignment check. Have them check out the front end for free.

 

[drdoom]

One cause of inside tire wear is bad ball joints, so check them good not just by their appearance. Can't say whether the busted links could cause the tire wear, but as you know they need to be replaced regardless. I remember putting my Explorer back on the road once also on a very tight budget, and I repaired the transfer case, third brake light, rear brake line, and some other stuff too. And was ready for a inspection, or so I thought. Before driving out to the inspection staion, I looked at how the tires were worn on the inside, and some clunking too. So I put a jack under there and a two by four for a lever and dam they were shot. Ouch I had to go buy UCAs !

 

[SoNic67]

The front sway bar links didn't break just because... they wanted to. That truck was abused in order to break them, so it is safe to assume that other components on front are in need of replacement (ball joints for example). That's why you have the excessive uninform wear on tires.

 

[koda2000]

sway bar end-links are inexpensive and easy to install. the OE ones are often broken. 3 of my trucks have had a broken links and they have never been off road or abused beyond normal driving on ****ty roads. the problem with the OE links is that they trap water under the plastic jackets, then the bolts rust and break. getting the remaining pieces of the old links off can be the hardest part of replacing them. a saws-all is a big help.

end-links connect the sway bar to your lower control arms and help with body lean when cornering. they don't have anything to do with wheel alignment and not much effect on tire wear.

as far as your ball joints, get a tire shop to check them for you if you're not sure how to inspect them and your tie-rod ends.

 

[swshawaii]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=285772

http://www.moogproblemsolver.com/_pdf_En/MOOG_PS_Bulletin_25471_K7275_En.pdf

 

[BadThad]

sway bar end-links are inexpensive and easy to install. the OE ones are often broken. 3 of my trucks have had a broken links and they have never been off road or abused beyond normal driving on ****ty roads. the problem with the OE links is that they trap water under the plastic jackets, then the bolts rust and break. getting the remaining pieces of the old links off can be the hardest part of replacing them. a saws-all is a big help.

end-links connect the sway bar to your lower control arms and help with body lean when cornering. they don't have anything to do with wheel alignment and not much effect on tire wear.

as far as your ball joints, get a tire shop to check them for you if you're not sure how to inspect them and your tie-rod ends.

That is exactly correct!

My 06 has never been abused and last night I heard a pop while backing out of a driveway. I was only a few blocks from the house so I headed there. On the way, I heard another noise and saw something bouncing down the road behind me. I backed up and picked up the jacket that goes around the sway bar end bolt. Got home and the end bolt was just barely hanging there....pulled it by hand. It snapped off at the nut end.

Fast forward to today...

Went to O'Reilly's and picked up a pair Moog replacement ends. They are a slightly larger diameter than the factory ends and have more durable bushings. They also had the "OEM style" ends for only $12 each, but I popped for the better ends which were $21 each.

I just finished up replacing both ends, took just over an hour including jacking it up and putting the front in on jackstands. If you need help, there's some videos on youtube, but the job is really VERY easy......as car repairs go anyway.