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sway bar size?

john112deere

caffeine junkie
Staff member
10,807
405
central Vermont
I was getting set to order some tune-up parts for my truck, and figured I'd get the parts to do sway bar links and bushings at the same time.

(No, I probably don't need new bar-to-frame bushings...but that's neither here nor there. My curiosity has been peaked, and I need to know.)

Links are easy enough to find, but the bar-to-frame bushings come up as either 27 mm or 29 mm when you search pretty much any source for this truck.

(2009 Ranger 4x4, supercab, XLT. Not FX4, Sport, high-payload package, or any other optional suspension, and I'm the original owner so it's definitely as it left the lot.)

Rather than take a guess what they might have put in, I figured I'd measure the bar. I don't have a caliper, but I did a circumferential measurement, and also did my best with a combo square and a straight-edge. With a little conversion....both measurements come out around 33-34 mm? Which is not a size that any source shows for this truck, although there was a 32 mm Explorer bar once upon a time.

I can still read the part number off the bar, but I can't seem to successfully cross-reference it to a size. F87A-5494-CC




As indicated above...I don't really have any reason to think these bushings are failed. I need new end links, so I figured I'd go whole-hog because they're cheap and easy, and it would give me an excuse to pull and paint the bar. Now it's bugging me that things aren't making sense.
 

CowboyBilly9Mile

Charter Member
7,118
442
USA
Would it somehow do you any good if I measured the diameter of mine with a caliper and reported back (assuming the skid plate doesn't block access)?
 

john112deere

caffeine junkie
Staff member
10,807
405
central Vermont
It might add to the data pool... Easy as anything to reach on my truck, but I don't have the skid plates.

I'm guessing your part-number sticker is no longer legible?


The other big question in my mind, is whether the bar retains the same section through the area the bushing goes... I assume, and everything I find online suggests, that it does...
 

john112deere

caffeine junkie
Staff member
10,807
405
central Vermont
I suppose this picture could have been dual-purpose if I'd included a ruler or something for scale...but I'm not that bright.

C50BC08F-7930-4E7A-B5AD-DDCA374507B9_zpswqnclgrz.jpg
 

CowboyBilly9Mile

Charter Member
7,118
442
USA
Info:

*Sway bar size = 1 9/64" (29mm) OD. Measured with a caliper that reads, "The L. S. Starrett Co" on it. Made in USA too!
*Never had a PN sticker on it, must have been removed at the factory.
*LH and RH of sway bar, to the outside of the bushing on the frame, there is a bend in the bar that may encroach slightly into the bushing. Surely noting significant.
 

john112deere

caffeine junkie
Staff member
10,807
405
central Vermont
34 mm, measured with a no-name digital caliper (on both bar and bushing) at the parts store.

With some research, we found that an '06 F-150 may have the bushing I need, but he didn't have one in stock to look at.

Weird. Also, the truck handles weird when the bar is in the bed. Not bad, exactly... But it kinda reminds me of how the front end in old cars feels...
 

john112deere

caffeine junkie
Staff member
10,807
405
central Vermont
Some further research, and I've bought bushings that fit my bar and brackets by looking up a 1999 Explorer.
 

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