Sway Bar Link Bushings for 1986 Chevrolet Cavalier CL

Sway bar link bushings, listed by some manufacturers as a stabilizer link bushing, sit inside the short links joining each end of the sway bar to the suspension on your Chevrolet Cavalier. They let the link pivot as the wheel moves while passing load through to the bar.

On links built this way the bushings are a serviceable item, which means a worn link can often be rebuilt for a fraction of what a replacement link costs.

Chevrolet Cavalier Sway Bar Link vs Bushing: Which Part Do You Need

Worth settling first, because the answer decides whether you are buying a bushing kit or a complete link.

Look at the ends of your existing link. If you see a sealed socket with a rubber boot over it, resembling a small tie rod end, that link uses ball joints. Nothing inside is serviceable, and when it develops play the entire link is replaced.

If you see rubber compressed between two washers on a threaded stud, or a bushing pressed into a ring at the end of the link, the bushings can be replaced on their own. Threaded rod links, eye style links and a great many truck and older vehicle designs are built this way.

Some links use one of each, with a ball joint at one end and a bushing at the other. On those, the ball joint determines the life of the link overall, so replacing the bushing alone only makes sense if the joint is genuinely still tight.

The quick check is whether anything on the link looks like it could be taken apart. A sealed joint cannot be, and a stack of washers and rubber obviously can.

How Stacked Chevrolet Cavalier Link Bushings Are Assembled

The most common serviceable design is simpler than people expect and easy to get wrong.

A threaded stud passes through a hole in the suspension arm or the bar end. Onto that stud goes a washer, then a bushing, then the component, then a second bushing, then another washer, and finally the nut. The two bushings sit back to back with the mounting point sandwiched between them.

The cone or dish shape matters more than it looks, because most link bushings are not flat, and the tapered face is designed to seat into the hole while the flat face bears against the washer. Assembled with a bushing reversed, it cannot seat, the stack never pulls down square, and the bushing tears itself apart within weeks.

A sway bar link bushing kit supplies the bushings, washers and usually the nut, since the nut is often a nylon insert type that should not be reused.

Take a photograph before pulling the stack apart, since the order is obvious while it is together and considerably less obvious once four bushings and four washers are sitting on the bench.

Why Chevrolet Cavalier Link Bushings Wear Faster Than Mount Bushings

The bushings at the ends of the bar live a harder life than the pair in the middle, and the reason is leverage.

Mount bushings sit near the centerline of the vehicle where the bar rotates through a relatively small angle. Link bushings sit out at the wheel, where the suspension travels its full range, so they are being worked through a much larger arc on every bump.

They are also directly in the spray from the front tire, taking water, salt and grit continuously. The mount bushings at least sit up under the chassis with some shelter.

That combination is why a front stabilizer link bushing and its partner at the other end often need replacing while the mount bushings still have life in them, and why a vehicle can develop a rattle at the ends long before it develops a squeak in the middle.

Does Your Chevrolet Cavalier Need End Link Bushings or a Whole New Link

The honest answer depends on the condition of everything except the bushing.

Rebuild the link when the stud threads are clean, the nut comes off without a fight, the link body is straight and free of heavy corrosion, and the mounting holes in the arm and bar end are still round. An end link bushing kit on a sound link is one of the cheapest repairs available.

Replace the link when the stud is seized and has to be cut, when the threads are damaged, when the link body is bent, or when a ball jointed end has developed play. None of those are fixable with a bushing.

There is a middle case worth knowing about. A stud that has been spinning inside a collapsed bushing for months usually has a worn, polished section where it should be a clean diameter. A new bushing on a worn stud wears out early, so inspect the stud once the stack is off rather than assuming it is fine because the threads look acceptable.

On a high mileage vehicle it is often worth buying the bushing kit and inspecting, then keeping the kit for the other side if the first link turns out to need replacing outright.

Symptoms of Worn Chevrolet Cavalier Sway Bar Link Bushings

• A light, fast rattle from the wheel area over small sharp bumps
• Noise that is worst at low speed on broken pavement and gone on smooth road
• A knock felt through the steering wheel when turning at low speed
• Vehicle sway through corners that has increased gradually
• The body settling more slowly after a lane change
• Play you can feel by hand at either end of the link
• Rubber visibly squeezed out from between the washers
• An adjustable bar whose settings no longer feel different from each other

Sway bar link bushing symptoms are easy to confuse with mount bushing wear, so use the character of the noise. A rattle or knock that follows sharp edges points at the links. A squeak or creak that changes with the weather points at the mounts, which sit at the center of the vehicle rather than out by the wheels.

What a Cracked or Broken Sway Bar Link Bushing Looks Like

These fail visibly, which makes diagnosis straightforward once the wheel is off.

A worn sway bar link bushing flattens under the clamping load and spreads outward, so the first sign is usually rubber bulging past the edge of its washer. From there it cracks radially, and pieces begin to break away.

A broken sway bar link bushing often leaves the washers sitting loose with a visible gap in the stack, and the link itself will rattle freely by hand. At that point the bar has effectively lost its connection on that side.

Cracking alone does not always mean it is finished. Surface cracks in aged rubber are common and the bushing may still be doing its job. What matters is whether the stack is still tight and whether the link moves when you try to shift it by hand.

Chevrolet Cavalier Sway Bar Link and Bushing Replacement Cost

Sway bar link bushing replacement cost is low by suspension standards, because nothing needs pressing on the stacked designs and no alignment is required afterward.

The parts are inexpensive and the labor is short, so a shop is quoting a quick job. What inflates it is corrosion, since the stud and nut sit in a poor position and seize regularly, and a seized stud that spins inside its bushing has to be cut off.

That last point is worth weighing before you order, because if the stud is seized, the labor to save the link often exceeds the cost of a new one, which is why shops sometimes quote a complete link even where the bushings are technically serviceable.

Doing sway bar links and bushings across both sides at the same visit costs barely more than doing one, since the vehicle is already in the air.

Getting the Chevrolet Cavalier Sway Bar Link Bushing Stack Back Together in Order

Assemble the stack in the sequence you removed it, with the tapered faces of the bushings pointing into the mounting hole.

Do not overtighten the nut, because crushing the rubber or polyurethane flat removes the compliance the link needs to pivot, and an over-compressed bushing tears out quickly. Most stacked designs are tightened until the bushings just begin to bulge slightly at the edge and no further.

Grease polyurethane on assembly with a silicone or PTFE based product rather than a lithium or petroleum one, which breaks the material down over time.

Hold the stud while turning the nut where the design allows it. Many have a hex recess or flats on the end for exactly this, and without it the whole assembly spins.

Fit new nuts rather than reusing nylon insert types, which lose their locking ability once removed.

Do both sides so the bar works evenly across your Chevrolet Cavalier, and check the mount bushings at the center while you are underneath, since they produce similar complaints and the access is already paid for.

Find Sway Bar Link Bushings for Your Chevrolet Cavalier

Link bushings belong to the Nolathane polyurethane bushings selection, and fresh sway bar bushings at the center mounts fix the rest of the clunk.

Select your Chevrolet Cavalier to see the stabilizer bar link bushing kits listed for it. If your links use sealed ball joints rather than serviceable bushings, complete replacement links are available separately. Every Nolathane component is backed by our warranty, a fitment guarantee and 60 day returns.