Sway Bar Bushes with Fitting Position Front and Rear, Front Axle, Rear Axle for MITSUBISHI TRITON ML, MN 4WD

A sway bar bush is the split, D shaped bush that wraps around the bar and sits inside the bracket holding it to the chassis of your ML, MN 4WD TRITON. It lets the bar rotate cleanly as the suspension works while holding it in exactly one position.

Sway bar bushes are the most replaced bushes on any vehicle, they cost very little, and they are the usual answer when the front end has started squeaking. You will see them written as swaybar bushes, sway bar bushings or stabiliser bar bushes depending on the catalogue.

What ML, MN 4WD TRITON Sway Bar Bushes Do and Why the Bar Needs Them Tight

A sway bar resists vehicle sway by being twisted, and it can only twist if the middle of it stays still while both ends are pushed in opposite directions.

The sway bar mount bushes are what hold that middle. Once they soften, the fixed point stops being fixed, and some of the load that should be winding up the bar goes into the bar shifting around inside worn bushes instead. You get less resistance than the bar is rated for, so the vehicle leans further through corners, takes longer to settle after a direction change, and feels less planted without anything obviously being broken.

The bush also has to do something slightly contradictory. It needs to hold the bar firmly enough to keep it in position while still letting it rotate freely inside itself. Too tight and the bar binds, too loose and it wanders, so the fit between bar and bush matters as much as the material does.

The Squeak That Tells You Your ML, MN 4WD TRITON Sway Bar Bushes Are Worn

If the front end has developed a squeak or creak over speed humps and driveways, sway bar bushes are the first thing to check.

The noise comes from the bar rotating inside a bush that has gone dry, hard or worn, so the two surfaces stick and release rather than sliding. It is loudest at low speed where there is less other noise to mask it, and the giveaway is that it changes with the weather. It turns up on cold mornings or straight after rain and fades once things warm up or dry out.

That weather dependence is why people chase sway bar bushes noise for months without finding it. A fault that has disappeared by the time you get to the workshop is a difficult one to demonstrate.

Rubber develops this as it ages, hardens and loses whatever lubrication it started with. Polyurethane sway bar bushings hold their bore instead of opening up, and greased correctly on assembly they stay quiet rather than wearing their way to a fit.

ML, MN 4WD TRITON D Bushes, Mount Bushes and Sway Bar Link Bushes

Both ends of the bar use bushes, both get called sway bar bushes, and they sit in completely different places on the vehicle.

The sway bar D bushes are the pair at the centre of the vehicle, clamping the bar to the chassis or subframe. The D shape is why they are named that way, and they are split so they can wrap around the bar without removing it entirely. These are what most people mean, and these are the ones that squeak.

Sway bar link bushes sit out at the ends of the bar where the link connects it to the control arm or strut. Plenty of links use a sway bar link bush at each end rather than ball joints, and those wear out too, producing a similar noise from a different location.

Telling them apart is straightforward once you know what to listen for, because a squeak that changes with the weather almost always comes from the front sway bar D bushes at the centre. A sharper, faster rattle following small sharp bumps at low speed usually comes from the link end. Since sway bar links and bushings are both inexpensive, doing them together saves a second trip underneath.

Polyurethane or Rubber ML, MN 4WD TRITON Sway Bar Bushes

Both will get the bar back off the bracket and stop the noise, so it is worth knowing what separates them before you order.

Factory rubber sway bar bushes are quiet and cheap to produce, and they are what the vehicle was designed around. They also deflect under load even when new, and they harden, crack and open out their bore with age, heat and UV exposure. Replace rubber with rubber and you are buying the same service life you just used up.

Polyurethane holds its bore where rubber opens out, so the bar keeps working against a fixed point rather than a gradually softening one. That means the bar delivers its rated resistance for considerably longer, and the vehicle holds its line through a corner with more traction from the same tyres rather than leaning further each year.

The trade people worry about is noise, and on this position it is more about assembly than material. A polyurethane bush greased properly on installation and clamped to specification stays quiet. One fitted dry will squeak within weeks, which is where most complaints about poly bushes actually come from.

Symptoms of Worn ML, MN 4WD TRITON Sway Bar Bushes

• Squeaking or creaking from the front over speed humps and driveways, worse cold or wet
• A dull clunk or knock over bumps at low speed
• Noticeably more vehicle sway through corners than you are used to
• The vehicle taking longer to settle after a lane change or quick direction change
• A vague, loose feeling with no obvious cause at either end
• Visible cracking, flattening, splitting or missing material in the bush
• The bar visibly moving inside its bracket when levered by hand
• An upgraded sway bar that never delivered the improvement you expected

Those last two are worth checking together, because if the bar is moving in the bracket rather than rotating cleanly inside the bush, you have found the problem.

How Long ML, MN 4WD TRITON Sway Bar Bushes Last

There is no fixed interval, because it depends almost entirely on climate and road surface.

Factory rubber commonly starts making noise somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 kilometres, and vehicles in hot climates, coastal areas or on rough roads get there considerably sooner. Heat, UV and grit all attack rubber, and the sway bar mounts sit in an exposed position collecting all three.

Sway bar bushes also fail progressively rather than suddenly, and the noise is the last symptom to appear, which means the bar has usually been delivering less than it should for a long while before anyone notices. A vehicle that felt planted three years ago and feels vague now almost certainly has worn bushes rather than a tired bar, because a sway bar cannot go soft.

Matching Sway Bar Bushes to Your Bar Diameter

Sway bar bushes are sized to the bar diameter rather than to the vehicle, and that is where most ordering mistakes happen.

If your ML, MN 4WD TRITON still has its original bar, the factory diameter is what you need. If the bar has been upgraded at any point, the bushes have to match the bar that is on the vehicle now, and aftermarket bars are frequently a few millimetres larger. A 25mm sway bar bushing will not do the job of a 27mm one, and a few millimetres is the entire difference between a bush that holds and one that lets the bar move from the day it goes on.

Measure the bar where the bush sits rather than guessing, and check front and rear separately since they are often different diameters on the same vehicle. A bush slightly too large lets the bar move immediately, and one slightly too small will not close properly in the bracket.

ML, MN 4WD TRITON Sway Bar Bushes Replacement and Why Clamping Matters

This is one of the most approachable jobs on the vehicle. The bracket is held by two bolts, the bush is split so it wraps around the bar without removing it, and on most vehicles the whole thing is done in under an hour with basic tools.

Expect resistance at the bracket bolts, since they live in a bad spot for corrosion and are usually the hardest part of the job.

What decides whether the new bushes last is clamping. The bar has to rotate inside the bush, not the bush inside the bracket, which means the bracket needs clamping down firmly enough to hold the bush completely still. People routinely under tighten these for fear of crushing the polyurethane, and an under clamped bush spins in the bracket and destroys itself quickly. Torque the bracket to specification rather than tightening it by feel.

Grease the bore on assembly with a lubricant made for polyurethane. Silicone and PTFE based greases are correct, while ordinary lithium and petroleum based greases can degrade the material over time. A dry bush wears its way to a fit, and that is where the squeak comes back from.

Do both sides and torque them together so the bar sits square rather than being pulled across, and check the links while you are under there since they produce similar complaints. No wheel alignment is required afterward, which makes this one of the cheapest improvements available on a vehicle that has gone vague.

Find Sway Bar Bushes for Your ML, MN 4WD TRITON

Select your ML, MN 4WD TRITON to see the front sway bar bushes, rear sway bar bushes and link bushes available for it, and check the bar diameter each one suits. Every Nolathane component is backed by our warranty, a fitment guarantee and 60 day returns.