Sway bar end links bushings rear - please help!

[cbilodeau]

Originally Posted by superk

Above is a pic of my f53 after I changed the sway bar links location for the CHF. I also installed new sway bar bushings at the same time.

If you look at the pic, the links are almost completely blocked off by the z-brackets. Have you removed the z-brackets to inspect the bushings to verify that they are indeed damaged? As was mentioned, poly bushings are pretty tough.

Here are the picture for my rear passenger side.




Rear end links bushings
You can see it melted in the bottom. Also at the top it form like two bigger disk that let me think the inside was squeeze to the bottom so it is probably uneven inside meaning the wall is thick at the top but thin at the bottom.

No CHF since the handling is very good, the motorhome is heavy.

Spring blades bushings
For the spring blades, the rubber have full of cracks but I suppose nobody know where to get them or probably it is not useful to change them. They are RB226 and RB225 for my F53. See this chart: http://www.truckcomponentsonline.com...-3_c_1139.html

For RB226 here are the compatibles: RB226, F4TD5348BA, F4TZ5348C, SP43-118BA, RB180, RB-180, E9TA5348B, E9TA5348BA, E9TZ5348B, MR606 Same As Automann MR606, Clevite 237890, Ford E9TA5348BA, Ford E9TZ5348B, Automann MR606, S & G RB-180, Flagg RB180

For RB225 here are the compatibles: RB225, F4TD5348AA, SP43-118AA, RB-179, E9TD5348AB, E9TZ5348A, RB179, MR604, Same As Automann MR604, Clevite 237880, Ford E9TD5348AB, Ford E9TZ5348A, Ford E9TZ5348AB, Automann MR604, S & G RB-179, Dallas RB179, Flagg RB179

On ebay my two search strings are:
(RB226, F4TD5348BA, F4TZ5348C, SP43-118BA, RB180, RB-180, E9TA5348BA, E9TZ5348B, MR606, 237890, RB-180) (rubber, bushing, bushings, leaf, spring)

and

(RB225, F4TD5348AA, SP43-118AA, RB-179, E9TD5348AB, E9TZ5348A, RB179, 237880, E9TD5348AB, MR604, RB-179) (rubber, bushing, bushings, leaf, spring)

But it returns nothing. I am in Canada and I don't know where to find them. Need to find a supplier offering shipping to Canada.

Did anybody changed them?

[cbilodeau]

Follow-up:

Skuterdude (Eric) just called me. He saw my pictures and he said that the melting rubber in fact is "Volcanizing".

I will unscrew this part and send pictures so that he can try to make a bushing.

I forgot to talk to him about the spring suspension bushings of my previous post.

Carl

[cbilodeau]

I went under the motorhome to remove the rear endlink but finally I did not remove it yet.

I simply realised they are identical to the front ones. They are straight 10" from the middle of the hole to the other middle of the hole. The bolt has 1/2" diameter like in the front.

I see on the internet this style of end links is bayonet - stem. I see Hellwig 7961 8-11" Adjustable Endlinks available everywhere amazon, ebay, jegs, summitracing, truckspring. On amazon.ca I have just send a question about the bolt diameter and the width of the end.

Someone on amazon.ca say that it did fit on his Ford Excursion, F250, F350 rear. Another one on his Superlifted 2003 dodge ram. So I suppose that we have to investigate for these vehicule what the oem dimensions are.




On the second image, if I do a computation at the screen it seems the hole in the link is about 0.38". Here is my basic computation: the 8" link makes 3 10/32" on my screen and the hole makes 5/32 which give a hole diameter of only 0.38 inch.

[cbilodeau]

Oups

[cbilodeau]

Originally Posted by cbilodeau

I went under the motorhome to remove the rear endlink but finally I did not remove it yet.

I simply realised they are identical to the front ones. They are straight 10" from the middle of the hole to the other middle of the hole. The bolt has 1/2" diameter like in the front.

I see on the internet this style of end links is bayonet - stem. I see Hellwig 7961 8-11" Adjustable Endlinks available everywhere amazon, ebay, jegs, summitracing, truckspring. On amazon.ca I have just send a question about the bolt diameter and the width of the end.

Someone on amazon.ca say that it did fit on his Ford Excursion, F250, F350 rear. Another one on his Superlifted 2003 dodge ram. So I suppose that we have to investigate for these vehicule what the oem dimensions are.




On the second image, if I do a computation at the screen it seems the hole in the link is about 0.38". Here is my basic computation: the 8" link makes 3 10/32" on my screen and the hole makes 5/32 which give a hole diameter of only 0.38 inch.

TruckSpring.com spoke with Hellwig tech and for the question what are the bolt and holes diameters they advised 7/16" (0.43 inch) for the diameter and 2-3/4 inches for the bolt lenght.

I will unscrew my end link and mesure exactly. If Eric can not make the bushing maybe this Hellwig could work.

[cbilodeau]

Here are the images I sent to Eric today. Good news, he will make them. They are the same front and rear.

We have to find out which others years are identical to 1999.

Click on the picture.
Click on the picture.
Click on the picture.

Base on the measure, the Hellwig 7961 8-11" Adjustable Endlinks should also work on the Ford F53. I don't know if it is strong enough but it would fit.

Here are pictures I have found on IRV2 of end links bushing for the F53 for other years and it seems to me the new bushings could fit from 1999 to 2016.

This is a 2016


A 2014:



A 2008:


A 2006:

[cbilodeau]

Originally Posted by cbilodeau

TruckSpring.com spoke with Hellwig tech and for the question what are the bolt and holes diameters they advised 7/16" (0.43 inch) for the diameter and 2-3/4 inches for the bolt lenght.

I will unscrew my end link and mesure exactly. If Eric can not make the bushing maybe this Hellwig could work.

I don't want to mislead people. I don't recommend using the hellwig end links. See this thread: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f23/endle...ml#post3120809

[cbilodeau]

I have ordered two rear end links from the Ford dealer this morning. They are 61$Cad + tx each. About 50$US each. Will pick them tomorrow.

Not so bad. I was expecting 180$ for a pair, since there is about 0.80$ of metal and 0.25$ of rubber.

I will post the part number if there is one on it so that people can buy it elsewhere.

[cbilodeau]

I have received my new rear end-links. They are: MEF-111 also 9U94-5K484-BA and also 9U9Z-5K484-A. They are the new model. They fit 1999 to 2015. They are 10.2" according to the Ford dealer. I mesured the width of the sleeve (insert tube) which is 1 3/8".

Here is an image of the new model:


Here is the search string for the new model on eBay:

(9U94-5K484-BA, 9U9Z-5K484-A, MEF-111, MEF111, 9U9Z5K484A, 9U945K484BA) (sway, bar, end, links, endlinks, link)

To search on ebay for all the compatibles models here is the search string:

(9U94-5K484-BA, 9U9Z-5K484-A, MEF-111, MEF111, 9U9Z5K484A, 9U945K484BA, F81Z-5K484-BB, F81Z5K484BB, F81Z-5K484-AB, F81Z5K484AB) (sway, bar, end, links, endlinks, link)

Here is a picture of the old model, the bushing is different:


For the front, the endlinks for 1999 to 2015 is probably MEF-666, also 4C3Z-5K484-BA.

On eBay: (MEF-666, 4C3Z-5K484-BA, 4C3Z5K484BA) (sway, bar, end, links, endlinks, link)

[cbilodeau]

Follow-up. I have install the new model links. They are longer than the old ones I had. I think the old ones were 10" and the new ones are 10.2". So we can not mix an old model with a new model, they have to be in pair.

Also, the new links don't need the two big washers on each side since they are widder.

For the old links, the insert tube is 1 1/4" width.

[cbilodeau]

When I removed my old 17 years old links, the bottom insert tube (sleeve) had a lot of rust. Half of the diameter came off like onion's skin. This motorhome runs in the snow and they put salt on the road. The rust probably weaked the insert tube and then the tube under the big pressure lost its symetric.
The top tubes were not damaged, probably they move less. But one of the top tube was solder with rust with the bolt. I had to use a grinder to remove it from the bolt on which it slide on.