The sway bar on a car or truck is designed to tie together the corners in a suspension. If you lean hard into a right hand turn, the sway bar translates that movement into the left corner and keeps the wheels planted on the ground. These bars run across the width of the car or truck and are mounted to the chassis via bushings. Replacing them can be done at home in about an hour.
Use the jack to lift up the front of the vehicle then set it on jack stands. Be sure that the vehicle is completely and solidly on the stands prior to working on the vehicle. Take off the front wheels using the tire iron and set them out of the workspace. Crawl underneath and locate the sway bar. This will be a curved metal tube that runs the width of the car or truck and is connected to the suspension via end links.
Unbolt the sway bar from the end links using a 3/8-inch ratchet and socket and an open-end wrench. Then unbolt the chassis-mounted bushings in the middle of the sway bar using the ratchet and remove the sway bar from the chassis.
Set the replacement bushings included in the kid around the sway bar. Loosely bolt the bushings and sway bar into the frame, only putting in the bolts hand-tight. Install the sway bar to the end links with only by hand. Reinstall the tires and set the vehicle back on the ground with the jack.
Tighten the connections between the end links and the sway bar as well as the sway bar bushings and the chassis using the 3/8-inch ratchet, socket and an open-end wrench. You need the weight of the vehicle on the suspension before you tighten everything up; otherwise, it could bind.
