Well I have been doing some research and it looks like Ford changed the design of the end links from mid 05 and up to a more conventional design. I found this out when trying to order up new ones as the parts guy kept asking me which style I had, the vertical rod (mid 05 +) or the 90 degree ball joint version (04-mid05.)

I got the parts and went to do the simple change. Turns out mine are frozen into the sway bar hole, it is a taper fit so it can be stubborn to break free. I used 3 different sized pickle forks, a pickle fork on an air hammer, tons of wd40, sledge hammers ranging from 3-15 pounds, a various assortment of breaker bars and a pretty massive c-clamp, yet nothing moved the bolt. I guess this is why Ford might have changed the design. Kind of strange considering my truck has zero rust on it... That dam sway bar likes to absorb a lot of the energy when beating the hell out of the bolt so I kind of figured something would be a pain when looking at the new parts with the taper fitting on them.

My fix will be the press at the shop. It sucks that a 5 minute job turned into a remove the sway bar from the truck style job.

Anyone else have this problem?

Here is the whats left of the joint

 

what about just putting an air gun on the 10mm on the bottom and spinning it?

 

I just killed one whild do a lift. moog replacement was 35 bucks part number K80279 . I had to buy a lower control arm and it came withthe 05-07 stly one.. to bad i coulnt have lucked out and got the one i need.

 

The bolt is frozen on both sides. It almost feels like it is welded into the swaybay...

 

I know this is really old, but in case someone else comes here to see what other people did to get the top bolt out I'm writing this.

The only thing that could get them out for me is to heat the sway bar with a torch. After I heated it for a couple seconds, the bolts fell out. I ended up taking the whole sway bar off. Start with the bottom nuts first with an 18mm and the 15mm nuts that hold the sway bar on. Don't forget to have a 10mm handy for the bottom nuts, as the bolts turn when you start to back the nut off. Then use a 21mm deep well to take the top nuts off (Impact wrench wouldn't budge these, I had to use a breaker bar). The new links should pull themselves on with the new nuts/bolts

Hope this helps someone out there!

 

Tried to do mine today, finally re-torqued it and having my buddy's shop do it. What a ****ing PITA! They felt welded on and nearly impossible to get off without a lift. Was going to change the links and bushings. I have a July built 04 so it has the 90* type and got the same style from Moog but with greasable fittings as well as Moog Bushings.

 

I don't think Thor could have beat those bolts out of the top. I hit it until I flattened it. So I finally just took the whole dang thing off. I ordered the Moogs too. Be glad to get rid of the clunk!

 

I think it is a bad design. I had mine replaced with Moogs and within 3 months of normal on road driving the clunk was back. Had them serviced again and after about 4 months the clunk has returned. I have just been dealing with the clunk for about the last 6 months now. The first time, I let the clunk go on for a year before replacing them. I won't be replacing them again unless I am changing them to a different design. My truck is a June 2003 build.

 

May 27th 2004 on mine. Man, I hope my clunk doesn't come back THAT fast!

 

Mine are six months old and unfortunately, there has been a clunk lately. I ruled them out since they are virtually new. It sucks but better than upper or lower ball joints imo.

 

For anything that stubborn, heat is indeed your friend. I started in automotive in Chicago and if you don't have a "hot wrench" handy, you're out of business. Fortunately, when I moved to Ca. a gazillion years ago, the "hot wrench" was no longer needed.