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Replacing Worn Parts |
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| As our Saabs age there are many parts that wear out. But some key parts that keep our Saabs performing are not mentioned in the owner’s manual. On this page I show how to fix several key parts to keep our Saabs feeling young. |
| This upkeep if for the
front sway bar links. The links connect the sway bar to the front control
arm through the sandwich of two bushings. It is pictured to the right as
number 8. As these bushings age they are pulled through the hole in the
control arm, and can be seen best in the picture below. This causes the
connection to loosen and decreases the responsiveness of the front sway
bar. The solution is to tighten the bolt at the bottom of the link to
remove the slack and squash the bushing. This may not be possible though due to wear of the thread and bolt on the bottom of the sway bar link. Mine were so badly worn that the bolt would slip off. I had to buy new links, but I found them for a great price at Eeuroparts.com, $50 for the front sway bar and two links. Replacing the sway bar requires dropping the subframe and hoisting the engine, so it is easer to remove the links are replace them. This upkeep results in a tighter steering feeling during hard turns.  |
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| The next important wear
parts are the plastic bushings of the shift linkage. Chances are that if
you have a manual transmission you are unsatisfied with the feel of the
shifter. There are two plastic bushing in the old linkage design and one
at the base of the stick shifter what become worn and increase the play in
the gearshift. There is an upgraded linkage that eliminates two of the
plastic bushings but cost $190. But the problem can be fixed at zero
costs. The solution starts by to removing the shift linkage from above the tranny. Refer to this Technical Bulletin - Linkage Upgrade for information on how to remove the shift linkage. NOTE, only follow steps 2-7 on the last page, and there is no need to raise the car. With the linkage removed you will only notice a small amount of play in it, but this is amplified at the stick shift. To solve the problem remove the plastic bushings and use electrical tape to decrease the gap between the rod and the bushings and between the bushing and the plastic housing. Electrical tape is used because it is very thin. Pictured to the right is the shift linkage. Numbers 1 and 2 indicate where the white plastic bushings are. The circle clips on the end need to be removed. Then the bushings can be pulled out. Number 3 indicates the bolt that clamps the gear selector rod to the linkage. Number four is a mounting point and simply slides into a rubber mount on top of the transmission. Number five is the point on the linkage that is mounted to the transmission gear rod. The bottom two pictures to the right show upkeep of the third bushing in the gear shift system. It is at the base of the stick shifter. Accessing it requires the total removal of the center consol. But this job is easier than it appears and only take about 20 minutes to have the shifter housing undone. Again the plastic bushing needs to be removed and tightened with electrical tape. Reinstallation takes about 30 minutes. By tightening the fit of these three bushing the tightness of the shifter has increased by approximately 60%. |
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