How to Add Grease to Sway Bar Links

What's the best grease to use on sway bar bushings? Nothing fancy....just rubber bushings. A link to a product I can buy from NAPA/Amazon would be ideal.

I don't think rubber bushings are typically greased, but I ~do~ like to use Moly Slip on things greasable. Never-Seize also works.

Wrap the bar with a little Teflon tape where the bushings go on. Seriously. Works well.

I've frequently used plumbers(waterproof) grease for swap bar bushings...

The best bushing grease is a silicone-based or silicone-impregnated synthetic. The silicone gives the grease a very sticky/tacky property that will help it cling to the bushing and last a long.

That is what we (Hotchkis) supply in all of our kits.

ncjay SuperDork
3/6/17 6:50 p.m.

I confess. I've never greased or otherwise lubricated a sway bar ever. And my years old polyurethane front end kit is as silent as it could possibly be.

My poly bushings get squeaky if I don't grease them. I can't remember what I used after I ran out of the grease that was supplied with them.

I use the Napa Mercury outboard lower end grease. Mostly because I had a tube of it around years ago and it worked well.

May be helpful, may not be, but in the needle bearings in my rear suspension linkage on my MX bike I use a 50/50 blend of BelRay waterproof grease and BelRay moly paste. It lasts longer than any other combo I've tried. I can get a full season of mud and pressure washer abuse without worrying about my bearings getting rusty or the lube washing out. Just thought it might be applicable?

GameboyRMH wrote: Wrap the bar with a little Teflon tape where the bushings go on. Seriously. Works well.

I like this. I've been drilling/tapping & installing grease fittings on sway bar mounts for years & never cast an eye on that roll of Teflon tape sitting right there in the toolbox.

How long does it last?

I use Lucas Red 'N Tacky #2 on basically everything with a zerk fitting, and a lot of things that need greased that don't have a zerk.

It works well, holds up great, both of my Jeeps have poly bushings on their sway-bars, have yet to start squeaking since the first and only application of grease a few years ago.

It's red when new, as the name implies, so it's easy to see when you've used enough to replace the old dirty blackened grease.

Hopsonn New Reader
3/7/17 8:48 a.m.

GameboyRMH wrote: Wrap the bar with a little Teflon tape where the bushings go on. Seriously. Works well.

This has worked very well for me. I wrapped the bar in heavy duty Teflon tape from McMaster. They sell it in wider sizes and thicker than the big box store. I then wiped a layer of Krytox I had from another project (seat belt bracket squeek) on the ID of the poly bushings and installed. No squeeks, still feels tight, and I haven't re-lubed in years (50k miles?).

Dashpot wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: Wrap the bar with a little Teflon tape where the bushings go on. Seriously. Works well.

I like this. I've been drilling/tapping & installing grease fittings on sway bar mounts for years & never cast an eye on that roll of Teflon tape sitting right there in the toolbox. How long does it last?

Lasts approximately forever from what I've heard, I haven't had to remove a sway bar in ages and have all rubber sway bar bushings so I haven't tested it myself.

I might put some on the Samurai just as a durability test, it's super easy to get to the sway bar on that.

That green "Marine" grease you find in the autoparts stores. I put that on all my bushings, and it works very well. Nasty stuff, though.

How to Add Grease to Sway Bar Links

Source: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/what-grease-for-sway-bar-bushings/127084/page1/

Share this post