[FreeAgent]

Hey guys. Spent the day installing/fussing with the install on my Eibach pro-Kit springs and Bilstein B8's on my 2015 ST. Got the rears on no problem. Moved to the passenger side front and hit a roadblock. Getting the sway bar link nut off (the one that goes through the bracket on the strut) has proven to be difficult, and I may need to cut off the link and replace it. Its the type where you need to hold the center with an allen, at the same time that you remove the nut. I didn't have a pass through socket set when I started and in the process began to strip out the allen. After realizing it was going downhill I went and got a pass through socket set. So now back home with the right tool, the nut gets all the way to the end of the stud, until its flush and hits the last thread and stops. Its get really hard to turn all of a sudden. The allen has continued to strip to where I cant get a lot of torque on it. I can tighten and loosen the nut just fine up until the last thread. The combination of the last thread making it hard to turn, and the allen stripping when applying too much torque has made me not know how to move forward. Impact gun just spins the stud as well.

I think I remember 13 and 14 cars having a flat spot on the back you could hold on to instead of the allen to keep the stud from spinning. I'm not seeing it on my 2015. Is my only option at this point getting a new sway bar link and cutting the old one off? I figured I would ask you guys before going that route. Thanks in advance!

Here is the nut I'm talking about:

 

[XRJoe]

Pull the boot back on the endlink and you should be able to see the flats. It would really surprise me if Ford changed that between 14 and 15. Even my 01 Focus had the flats.

If you have it that far with the last thread, see if you can straighten the threads with a file. Also, see if you can hammer a Torx bit into the stripped allen hole. This may give you enough grip to go the rest of the way. If you can get the nut off far enough to expose threads behind it, put a pair of vice grips on there.

Order a set of new endlinks

 

[FreeAgent]

Pull the boot back on the endlink and you should be able to see the flats. It would really surprise me if Ford changed that between 14 and 15. Even my 01 Focus had the flats.

If you have it that far with the last thread, see if you can straighten the threads with a file. Also, see if you can hammer a Torx bit into the stripped allen hole. This may give you enough grip to go the rest of the way. If you can get the nut off far enough to expose threads behind it, put a pair of vice grips on there.

Order a set of new endlinks

Thanks for this, helpful suggestions. This prompted me to check parts numbers on the sway bar link between '13-14 and '15. Its the same part number. So if the earlier ones had a flat spot, mine must too. I will take the wheel off again and look harder.

 

[XRJoe]

Thanks for this, helpful suggestions. This prompted me to check parts numbers on the sway bar link between '13-14 and '15. Its the same part number. So if the earlier ones had a flat spot, mine must too. I will take the wheel off again and look harder.

Good luck! I don't think I could even see mine. I just felt behind and having done these enough times, knew it was there.

 

[ddfred]

Thanks for this, helpful suggestions. This prompted me to check parts numbers on the sway bar link between '13-14 and '15. Its the same part number. So if the earlier ones had a flat spot, mine must too. I will take the wheel off again and look harder.

I can't believe they would have changed the end link, but I guess it's possible; I believe the flats can be gripped with a 19 mm end wrench.

 

[jalapeno]

Thanks for this, helpful suggestions. This prompted me to check parts numbers on the sway bar link between '13-14 and '15. Its the same part number. So if the earlier ones had a flat spot, mine must too. I will take the wheel off again and look harder.

i think you need a 17mm wrench for the flat part

 

[Nautical]

i think you need a 17mm wrench for the flat part

It is indeed a 17mm. I just installed my coilovers two weeks ago and I ran into the same thing until I watched CJ Pony Parts coilover installation video.

 

[FreeAgent]

I was sure I was going to find a flat spot on the back once I inspected it more, but I didnt! There was a ridge back there but it was a smooth circle and didnt have flat spots. Somewhere along the line the design must have changed. However a good hold with the vice grips on that circular ridge was all it took and I was able to muscle the nut off. Bilstein B8's and Eiback pro-kit are installed on my '15!

 

[wheelhopper]

An air wrench will spin the nut fast enough many times to tighten it sufficiently.

 

[freakin_elrod]

15's do not have the flat part that uses a 17mm that everyone is talking about on the front swaybar endlink. You need a passthrough wrench/socket and an allen wrench to remove it. Or you can use and air wrench or some type of impact wrench to get it off.