Logging this as maybe it will be helpful for someone else. And just to pat myself on the back for tackling this job :-)
I have a 2003 31C Minnie. Everything is stock.
This weekend, I replaced the suspension sway bars and the steering stabilizer. I am not sure how it is going to affect my drive but from research they are supposed to make a big difference. I didn't really notice it was a horrible drive to start with but my wife refuses to drive so my goal is to get it to a point where she will drive it.
1) Replacing the Steering stabilizer went fairly easy. I replaced the stock one with a Bilstein one:
https://a.co/9dYrHHg. Removing the old one and putting the new one was pretty easy except for the hold down bolt by the tire. The bolt was hard remove because it was hitting one of the steering arms even with the wheels turned the full way. I was finally able to get the bolt in. The bolt in the center of the vehicle were pretty easy. I don't think this will have a huge effect on the steering, but I did it anyway.
2) Replacement of the front stabilizer sway bar was more difficult. I replaced the stock one from Hellwig. It was this one:
https://a.co/6qX5grm . Removal was fairly easy, just a couple of bolts and then some wiggling around. It finally slid out. Putting the new one in was confusing. It is heavier and I wished I had a spare set of hands to hold it up while attaching it. But I got it eventually. The old one had the ends slide into holes in the frame. The new one used a confusing configuration of a ubolt and many bolts, washer,s, and bushings. But after a bit of research I figured it out. Attached it, test drove it and retightening everything. I do think I feel that the drive is a bit stiffer with the new bar, time will tell.
3) Replacement of the rear stabilizer sway bar. I replaced the stock one with this:
https://a.co/1L4aBMU. This should have been easy...... removal of the old one was an issue. One of the U brackets was bent forward, it looked like at some point the previous own backed into something that bent it forward making it really hard to get to the bolt so a hammer was necessary. After removal of the bolts when putting the new one back in with a friend because it is a two person job to hold the bar, one of the embedded nuts had screwed up threads on the end. Thankfully my friend has all the tools.... He has a thread fixer bolt and had to use that for the threads and cut one of the prior bolts short to screw it in all the way through from the top. That fixed the first two threads that were somehow munged up. Once the threads were fixed, it screwed in easily by hand and then torqued wrenched it in to the correct specs. It definitely feels stiffer and a better drive but that was only a short test drive. I am looking forward to what differences will be in the long run.
Next on my list is to do the following: replace the shocks with Bilstein shocks (trying to find someone to do it), put in sumo springs in the front, the stock airbags in back look deflated (I need to see if they still hold air)
Any other suggestions/comments/questions?
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