Ford F53 Rear Swaybar Bushings

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
H

Hank W

Member
Joined
May 25, 2009
Posts
18
Location
Summerville, Sc
:) Just completed the replacement of the rear sway bar bushings on my 97 F53 Ford chassis. I ordered them from a seller on Ebay. They are the polyurethane type bushing, color blue. $50 including shipping. Manufacturer unknown. The last time I was lubricating the MH at the rear U joint I noticed the sway bar bushings were deteriorating. I also could tell a slight difference in the handling of the MH on the road and making turns. I have not road tested it yet as I have a couple of other items to take care of next week. I used some PB Blaster on the bolts for the bushings and they were not difficult to remove. Overall it was not a difficult job. My chassis uses a 1 1/2 inch rear sway bar and a 1 5/8 inch front sway bar. The front bushings look just fine.
 
Are these bars OEM on a '97 F53 or are the after market?  Do I even have sway bars on my '97 F53?
 
I replaced the sway bar bushing on my Ford F-53 chassis last year. The rears looked good. I got the replacement bushings from Discount Advance Auto. Seems to me like they weren't very pricey. Don't have the numbers in front of me at this time.

Jerry
 
Lou, I am sure these are factory swaybars front and rear. I am the second owner of the coach and I don't believe the original owner had these installed. I have read on some other forums, owners had the same size swaybars that were factory installed around the same vintage year. Some others also experienced the same deterioration of the bushings on the rear, some were completely gone. The seller I bought the replacements from told me in an email that he had been told the original front bushings were of a different material than the rear and that is why there is not a large request for replacement parts for the front. These polyurethane bushings should last for many years , they are lubricated with a synthetic grease
 
I think the front sway bar is part of the chassis. The rear may be added by the coach builder if he feels it is needed.  And the F53 comes in  a couple different GVWRs, so there may be differences between the heavier models and the lighter ones.
 
Jerry, I checked with all the local parts suppliers and none had a polyurethane replacement bushing that size ( 1/1/2 inch) Ford does have them and Roadmaster makes them as well for the OEM sway bar, but their costs are almost twice what I paid. Now the sway bar link bushings are much smaller and the costs a lot less. Attached is pic of the new rear bushings.
 

Attachments

  • F53 bushings.jpg
    F53 bushings.jpg
    4.5 KB · Views: 60
Gary I suspect you are correct in that some coach manufacturers may have added these or had Ford add them to the chassis when it was built. My chassis is the heavier GVWR and is also wide body 102 inch width.
 
I don't see a bar on the rear of mine, but then again, I have the tag axle.
 
Did the seller have other sets, or just a set he hadn't used?  I could use a set on my 97 F53.  Gee, there seems to be a lot of us, maybe we could have our own section?

 
Bill, he does have more sets in stock ( Ford-F53-Class-A-rear-POLY-sway-bar-bushings 1990-1997 ) Goto EbayMotors do a search on that site with the description and you will find his listing. He states that he will soon have rear poly bushings for the later V10 F53 Chassis MHs. The 97 F53 are $40 per set of 2 and flat rate shipping $10 anywhere USA. You receive the 2 bushings and 2 mini pks of synthetic grease to lubrcate the inside surface of the bushings. No instructions included. Lifetime warranty to buyer.
He responded to my questions very promptly through email.
 
Lou, this reply may show up twice. Sorry if it does.
Since you do have the tag axale, that is maybe why you don't have a rear swaybar.
Here is a pic of one, but it is not of mine
 

Attachments

  • Swaybar pic.jpg
    Swaybar pic.jpg
    9.4 KB · Views: 61
What was involved in replacement?  I am on the road without a full complement of tools.  Leatherman, phillips head and a 3 lb mallet.  Just kidding, but I don't have my 1/2" drive stuff.  The jacks and stands enough to unweight the axle?
 
PanckeBill,
As far as jacks- I used my rear coach jacks with a set of jackstands, that unloaded the axle. There are two bolts per bracket about 6 inches long. Fortunately mine were not rusted very bad. I sprayed the threads with PB Blaster (a HD type penetrating oil) as soon as I had the MH jacked up. The nuts for the bolts are welded to the bottom side of the brackets. They soaked while I gathered everything I thought I may need to do each bushing. Since my old rubber bushings were deteriating, they were turning to a gooy sticky mess. I had to scrape the brackets and bar along with some paint thinner to clean them off. Once I broke the bolts free they came off easily. I did use a 1/2 inch socket set. It may be done with a 3/8 set depending on how much torque it will take to loosen the bolts (a 3/8 inch set may be marginal). It took longer to clean the the brackets and bar than to just do the replacement. The new bushings are split, so you do not have to remove one of the links on the swaybar to slide the bushing on. Overall I thought it was a relatively easy job.
 
Anyone find these bushings available in Canada?  I called Ford and they want $76.82 Cdn. for one polyurethane bushing.  At first they told me I had to replace the whole sway bar.  I told him he was nuts. Then he decided to check further and came up with that price which is outrageous for a piece of plastic. My RV is a 2001 Winnebago Adventurer and it's a Ford chassis F-53
I might even try a wreckers tomorrow.  They are on most F-53 Ford trucks I think.
Windsurferlady
Kingston, Ontario
 
Do you have NAPA  Auto parts stores in Canada? If not, try Canada Tire, i know you have those. There's no way those bushings are that much. Make sure you get the blue ones (polypropylene I think).
Don't waste your money on something from the junkyard. These are something that need to be new.
 
I bought those blue bushings off eBay about 2010 for my 1992 f53. Then again in 2013 or 14. Looks like I?m about ready for another set. Usually put 2000-3000 miles a year on outfit. I think bushings are too hard and get deformed easily if that makes any sense. No elasticity. But, about the only reasonable deal out there and easy to replace. 
 
Bought a set off eBay for about $50.00 maybe 3 years ago for our 1999 Aerbus F53.  Night and day difference on handling.  Good luck finding a set.
 
PancakeBill said:
What was involved in replacement?  I am on the road without a full complement of tools.  Leatherman, phillips head and a 3 lb mallet.  Just kidding, but I don't have my 1/2" drive stuff.  The jacks and stands enough to unweight the axle?
Click to expand...
Bill, you should not have any preload on the sway bar as long as the coach is level. The pre load happens when one side of the bar is loaded.
Bill
 
WILDEBILL308 said:
Bill, you should not have any preload on the sway bar as long as the coach is level. The pre load happens when one side of the bar is loaded.
Bill
Click to expand...

Bill,
Pancake Bill posted that 8? years ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 692 (members: 9, guests: 683)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,954
Posts
1,388,147
Members
137,707
Latest member
Opal6502
Back
Top Bottom