How to Repair the 1995 K1500 Front Stabilizer Bar
- 1). Loosen the K1500's front lug nuts, with a ratchet and socket, and raise the front end with a floor jack. Place jack stands beneath the truck and lower it until its weight is only held by the jack stands. Remove the front lug nuts and wheels.
- 2). Loosen and remove the nut at the bottom of the stabilizer link -- the roughly 8-inch bar connecting the stabilizer bar to the lower control arm -- while holding the top of the link secure with a combination wrench. Lightly tap the stabilizer link from the lower control arm with a rubber mallet. Grab the top of the link and pull it from the stabilizer bar. Notice that 10 components make up the sway bar link: four rubber bushings, four metal washers, one metal sleeve and a long bolt.
- 3). Place, in order, one metal washer and rubber bushing on the new link bolt. Push the link bolt through the stabilizer bar and assemble the link in the following order: rubber bushing, metal washer, metal sleeve, metal washer, rubber bushing, lower control arm, rubber bushing, metal washer and nut.
- 4). Tighten the stabilizer bar link nut to 13 foot-pounds with a torque wrench and socket.
- 5). Repeat Steps 2 through 4 for the stabilizer bar link on the other side of the K1500.
- 6). Trace the stabilizer bar inward and locate the stabilizer bar-to-frame bushing, the connection point between the stabilizer bar and the frame. Loosen and remove the two bolts securing the bushing clamp -- the metal, half-circle clamp holding the bushing -- with a ratchet and socket, and pull the clamp from the bushing.
- 7). Remove the bushing from the stabilizer bar. If the bushing has been replaced before, there is likely already a slit in the bushing to slide it from the stabilizer bar. If the bushing is factory, you may need to cut a slit into the bushing with a utility knife and pull the bushing from the stabilizer bar.
- 8). Coat the stabilizer bar bushings in silicone grease and slide the new bushing on the stabilizer bar, with the flat part facing the K1500's frame, the new bushing has a slit in it so it slides on without removal of the stabilizer bar. Place the bushing clamp over the new bushing and tighten the bolts to 24 foot-pounds with a torque wrench and socket.
- 9). Repeat Steps 6 through 8 for the bar-to-frame bushing on the other side of the K1500.
- 10
Place the wheels back on the K1500 and hand-tighten the lug nuts. Raise the truck from the jack stands, with the floor jack, and remove the stands from under the truck. Lower the K1500 to the ground. - 11
Tighten the lug nuts, in a crisscross pattern, to 140 foot-pounds, with a torque wrench and a socket.
