A while ago there were a number of posts, mine included, regarding crunching noises at the front of the car when going over speed bumps or driving out of a driveway, or similar maneuvers where the front of the car will dip down, causing a "crunch"....worse in cold weather.

As we determined previously, the culprits are the worn out rubber bushings on the front anti sway bar. I bought these from fastlane and just put them in this past weekend, and it solved the problem.

On the passenger side, the bushing is beneath the battery...after removing the battery and battery tray, you have easy access to the bushing. Remove the two 13mm nuts, pull of metal retainer, then just pull off the bushing (its split, so you don't have to slide it off the end...this makes it real easy). The new bushing comes solid..without a slit...just cut with a razor in same place as old one, slather with silicone grease (inside and out) and install. Just make sure the lobe of the bushing, and the recess on the retainer is oriented toward the lower nut.

The bushing on the drivers side is much more difficult to do, but still not too bad. You need to detach the brake master cylinder/vacuum booster from under dash in order to get access to it (remove cruise amp to gain access to bolts). I did this by just detaching the master cylinder and vacuum booster and pulling the assembly forward just enough for access to bushing...there was no need to detach brake lines from master cylinder. Access was tight, but with an assortment of ratchet attachments (flex joint, a couple sizes of extension bars, rachet with floppy head, etc.), job was fairly straightforward, tougher if you have really big hands.

Without silicone grease, installation would be tough...the grease allows the bushing with split to slide right in....raise or lower the car with jack to position sway bar at the best position. Dont use regular grease, only silicone.

Passenger side: 1 hr.
Drivers side: 2 1/2 hrs.

Hope this is helpful for many who will have frustrating crunching during upcoming cold weather.

Mark

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)

Mark,
Thanks so much for the helpful tutorial. I too have this crunching noise but have been too lazy to take the time and tackle the problem. Thanks to you, I'll have to spend a lot less time when I actually decide to bother dealing with the problem.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside