How to Install a Sway Bar Link Kit for a 98 Mercury Mountaineer

In 1997, Mercury introduced the Explorer-based Mountaineer SUV. The 1998 Mountaineer came standard with a 205-horsepower, 4.0-liter V-6 engine and had an optional 215-horsepower, 5.0-liter V-8 engine. The 1998 Mountaineer also came standard with a sway bar on the front suspension to help lessen body roll. Small bars with rubber bushings, metal washers and metal spacers, known as sway bar links, tie the sway bar to the Mountaineer's lower control arms. When these sway bar links wear out, you can repair them by installing a sway bar link kit, which includes the sway bar link, rubber bushings, a metal spacer, metal washers and a nut.

Instructions

1

Loosen, but don't remove, the lug nuts on the front wheel that has the failed sway bar link. Raise the front of the Mountaineer, using a floor jack, and place jack stands under the vehicle's frame rails. Lower the SUV onto the jack stands and remove the front wheel.

2

Remove the nut holding the sway bar link to the lower control arm, using a ratchet and socket, while you hold the top of the link steady with a combination wrench.

3

Pull the link upward through the sway bar. Notice that four bushings, four metal washers and a metal sleeve come off the link as you pull it through the sway bar.

4

Install a new metal washer, then a new rubber bushing on the new sway bar link. Insert the sway bar link into the sway bar and install the remaining new components onto the link as you guide it down to and through the control arm. When finished the components on the sway bar link, from top to bottom, are as follows: metal washer, rubber bushing, sway bar, rubber bushing, metal washer, metal sleeve, metal washer, rubber bushing, lower control arm, rubber bushing, metal washer and nut.

5

Hold the top of the sway bar link steady with a combination wrench and tighten the sway bar link nut to 10 to 13 foot-pounds, using a torque wrench and socket.

6

Reinstall the front wheel and hand-tighten the lug nuts. Raise the Mountaineer off the jack stands, using the floor jack, and remove the jack stands. Lower the Mercury to the ground. Use a torque wrench to tighten the lug nuts, in a crisscross pattern, to 100 foot-pounds.