Hey guys, so as usual another lovely design by my friends at GM.... 
the front sway bar bushings on my truck are in one hell of a spot to try and get replaced. I have looked at several videos and pictures online and even the GM repair manual I downloaded from here and none look like how mine is setup. I have an 04 Envoy 4WD, 4.2l and the front sway bar bushings are straight above the knuckle for the lower control arm. In all the videos, pictures and the GM repair manual I can see that the bushings are usually in front of the lower control arm, like closer to the front bumper. Not on mine. I didn't take a picture so I apologize about that but as you are facing in toward the wheel well and you look at the lower control arm, the front part of the wishbone that is closest to the front of the truck, right above that joint is where the 2 bolts are for my sway bar bushing.
My question would be, how in the hell do I get the bushing out of there? I was thinking that the only way would be to drop the lower control arm and I sure as hell am not up to doing that with all the work it involves with the suspension having to be removed and then either disconnecting the upper control arm or upper control arm ball joint. There is no clearance in the area between the control arm and the bushing retaining clip for me to get a socket or even a little wrench in there to back the bolts out.
Can someone give me some insight on the way I go about replacing these bushings? They are not really in bad shape just a little bit rounded towards the outsides where the bushing protrudes by design. And does anyone know off hand what size the OEM opening is where you stick in a hex key to unthread the end links? I have a torx kit that is great for removing the star head bolts we have for like the door jamb lock plate and seat belt bolts but didn't know if it would be strong enough for me to use on an impact gun.
Also just out of curiosity, my rear sway bar bushings and end links were replaced with suspension maxx end links and raybestos bushings. What I noticed for the bushings were that the passenger side bushing was more worn out than the drivers side and that the outer part of the passenger side bushing had a glazing to it, almost like someone painted it with clear lacquer. Is this normal to have slightly more wear on one side than the other? And the suspension maxx links were a real pain to get installed as you need to keep them perfectly centered and since there is no hex bolt on the outer side of it, you can't do anything but wrap a big pair of pliers around the outer mounting piece and then use that to hold the link in place while you bolt it in. Also the washer that sandwiches the upper and lower pieces together is so close to the frame, it doesn't even seem like its right but it is.
the front sway bar bushings on my truck are in one hell of a spot to try and get replaced. I have looked at several videos and pictures online and even the GM repair manual I downloaded from here and none look like how mine is setup. I have an 04 Envoy 4WD, 4.2l and the front sway bar bushings are straight above the knuckle for the lower control arm. In all the videos, pictures and the GM repair manual I can see that the bushings are usually in front of the lower control arm, like closer to the front bumper. Not on mine. I didn't take a picture so I apologize about that but as you are facing in toward the wheel well and you look at the lower control arm, the front part of the wishbone that is closest to the front of the truck, right above that joint is where the 2 bolts are for my sway bar bushing. My question would be, how in the hell do I get the bushing out of there? I was thinking that the only way would be to drop the lower control arm and I sure as hell am not up to doing that with all the work it involves with the suspension having to be removed and then either disconnecting the upper control arm or upper control arm ball joint. There is no clearance in the area between the control arm and the bushing retaining clip for me to get a socket or even a little wrench in there to back the bolts out.
Can someone give me some insight on the way I go about replacing these bushings? They are not really in bad shape just a little bit rounded towards the outsides where the bushing protrudes by design. And does anyone know off hand what size the OEM opening is where you stick in a hex key to unthread the end links? I have a torx kit that is great for removing the star head bolts we have for like the door jamb lock plate and seat belt bolts but didn't know if it would be strong enough for me to use on an impact gun.
Also just out of curiosity, my rear sway bar bushings and end links were replaced with suspension maxx end links and raybestos bushings. What I noticed for the bushings were that the passenger side bushing was more worn out than the drivers side and that the outer part of the passenger side bushing had a glazing to it, almost like someone painted it with clear lacquer. Is this normal to have slightly more wear on one side than the other? And the suspension maxx links were a real pain to get installed as you need to keep them perfectly centered and since there is no hex bolt on the outer side of it, you can't do anything but wrap a big pair of pliers around the outer mounting piece and then use that to hold the link in place while you bolt it in. Also the washer that sandwiches the upper and lower pieces together is so close to the frame, it doesn't even seem like its right but it is.
