Chevy & GMC Vans

It became extremely apparent today that i need to change the bushing in the van, one of the sway bar bushing is split in half... so heres my question i know more then one person on here used energy suspension poly bushing was it on an AWD and if so what was the part numbers? I figure i might as well replace them all while i'm taking stuff apart right? How long would this take a mechanic?

heres some pictures... pretty obvious its about time to change them....
lets start with the sway bar...


front diff lower mount

Control arm

I used these:

Stabilizer Bar Link Kit, Spicer #545-1012, $34.39 (includes both sides)

Fairly simple job. The worst part is removing the old hardware. The sleeve was rusted to the bolt so it took a lot of hammering and chiseling. Disassemble both sides first. Put a jack under the spindle so you can move it up and down. I did it with the whole front end in the air, both wheels off, but that may not be necessary.

one month later still haven't done it yet but it's been on my mind. I believe the parts numbers i need are
9.5171R sway bar bushings
9.8117R sway bar end links
This last one is a guess based on cross references can anyone confirm the number
3.3134R control arm bushings

I just attempted to changed the end links in the cold gave up when it started getting dark. what are these things welded together or something they just will not come apart i'm about ready to take my sawzall to em. Sway bar bushing is easy just unbolt idler arms and swing them out of the way then unbolt the sway bar bushings and bolt up the new ones

ya, if you got new links, just use an angle grinder to zip the nut off the top, and it might all fall apart.
Sorry, I cant confirm those numbers for you, but if you do confirm, please post it.
Tempted to do mine this spring.

Rust is natures welder. I split the sleeve seam with a chisel and then hammered the bolt out with a long punch, but a sawzall might be quicker. Was the van wet when you took the photos, or is everything covered in oil?

oil I get krown rust done every year, it never is supposed to dry but also have a cooler line leaking. sawzall it is then might have time to do the cooler line too..... :-k

Edit: uh oh i made a mistake the swaybar end links i have are for RWD the AWD number is 9.8121R sway bar bushing are correct. A piece fell of my sway bar along with the bolt on the drivers side that can't be good i guess i should get a new sway bar while i'm in there great.....

ok correct me if i;m wrong here but i don't think the power steering gear box is supposed to sit on the sway bar is it? in the first picture you can see it too the right of the bushing it's stopping me from mounting the sway bar properly. does that mean it wasn't installer correctly? is that even possible? i also notice the pitman(?) arm isn't all the way on...? if that really is mounted wrong that would ecplain why only my driver side bushing sneezed out of the mounting bracket wouldn't?

It could possibly be the wrong set of end links on the sway bar. That'll rotate enough to hit I suppose. The pitman arm goes onto a tapered, splined shaft so it does not go on all the way. It just goes until tight.

i can't bolt the bushing bracket up without contorting the bushing severely. i tried rotating the bar and at no point would it allow me to tighten the bolts down, i even thought maybe the bar i got was wrong compared it to the old one almost exactly the same. I'm pretty lost right now and on a what has become a short timeline.... my only other thought is maybe the wrong gear box is in there

can you post pics of what you mean?

Not sure about the steering box...has it been replaced since you've owned it? What about a thin spacer to place the sway bar away from the box just enough yet not hit the idler arm?

yes the gearbox has been replaced over a year ago it is the correct box in there i just spent 3 and a half hours fighting with it and am no further ahead. I think i've used every swear word i've ever heard at this point and my insulated coveralls are pretty wet (it decided to rain on me) Here are the best pictures i could get how can i make this highway worthy by tomorrow night

drivers side sway bar bushing i can not get both of the bolts in, nothing i've tried worked

you can sort out make out the sway bar with the steering gear box sitting on it in the middle of this picture

Here is a better picture of the two pieces fighting for the same space

I couldn't get a picture of it but there is a spot just outside that last shot on the lowest part of the gear box that is warn down from the contact between the gear box and sway bar. the gear box also does not sit perfectly vertical leans to the drivers side, if it did however it looks like it would clear the sway bar.


Edit:so skipping work now to try and get it working i phoned a dealer and asked for the part they gave me a price of 700 when i asked to confirm with my vin the price changed to 836.50 so it seems like for some reason my van uses a different gear box then other 98's. That would explain why this problem is unheard of but they wouldn't give me the part number i can only assume they use the 99 gear box in mine but can't confirm it right now. still leaves me with a major problem though and little time, 14 hours 40 minutes left.....

What were they looking up for you? Steering box? AWD box should have four bolts, all the outside castings are the same I believe. I have a 98 AWD box in the garage (all apart though) but I can confirm the part number on the outside of the casting if you like.

The difference in price sounds like they went from RWD to AWD. 97/98 RWD box is the same, and discontinued now.

Is it possible the end links are too short? If higher would that rotate the bar down and away f rom the box? I have a RWD so I cant really compare. You said you got a new bar, it was correct right?

I have that GM parts catalog at home too. If you want me to look something up I can.

Scott

end links weren't in in the earlier posts, the part number they finally gave me was 26086984 and is discontinued. the box i had installed in 2010 was a cardone 27-7575 i phoned them today and the gm number doesn't cross to any of theirs all i can do for now is put it back the way it was ](*,)

Edit: OMG #-o i just found a problem if its the only problem i'll find out in an hour .... the bar is in backward the fourth picture i posted shows it but no one noticed we were too focused on other things. Yup i knew it it i'm an idiot thats wait to last minute then rushes gotta stop doing that.....

2:30 later done unbelievable 6 days to remember how dumb i am then a bit over two hours start ti finish i'll post a picture if i make it back from test drive