LostInTransit
Mechanical
- Apr 2, 2023
- 3
Seeing how I wasn't able to reply to my original thread, I wanted to share our finding on this topic. Last week we drive the van to our performance shop and had them test fit a 28mm sway bar designed for the Ford Kuga/Escape on a 2020 Ford Transit Connect and my assumptions were correct. The Kuga and Connect utilize the same engine cradle which allows the 28mm hardrace sway bar to articulate correctly and in the the correct orientation. This is something we've wanted to test and install on the van for a long time.
The shop did nearly everything I asked except towards the end of the installation they skipped corners and di not apply the Teflon tape and the Silicone grease.. for the following week we drove the van with squeaks and knocks. I gave the shop ample time to correct their mistake but all they did was apply grease to both outer edges of the poly bushings.. This meant a 4 year long relationship with this shop came to an end on that day.. They did not follow my protocol so I was forced to locate another shop.
The second shop was in waiting and Last Sat they corrected the first shop's mistake by adding the Teflon tape around the areas where the bushings would attach and grease the entire poly bushings. then reinstalled the sway bar. This has been a long time coming and we proved that our theory that a 28mm hardrace sway bar designed for another car actually fit and articulaties correctly on our van. Again the rumor was, that a Focus sway bar would fit the Connect which John Hotchkis and I proved that it couldn't But in the process we located another sway bar that might work and actually did. This meant an upgrade from a 24mm sway bar to the 28mm sway bar. But it's bene too short of time frame and not enough driving to tell a difference just yet.
Contacting Hardrace and other vendors to let them know of our discovery, still met with opposition even after sending them pictures of the proof. irt wa smy hope to have those sites we've used to gather this information, to rewrite they data by including that the sway bar does in fact fit the Transit Connect. But those sites remain unchanged. So as far as I know, we're the only 2020 Transit Connect to have a 28mm hardrace sway bar (designed for the Ford Kuga/Escape) mounted on our performance suspension van.
The shop did nearly everything I asked except towards the end of the installation they skipped corners and di not apply the Teflon tape and the Silicone grease.. for the following week we drove the van with squeaks and knocks. I gave the shop ample time to correct their mistake but all they did was apply grease to both outer edges of the poly bushings.. This meant a 4 year long relationship with this shop came to an end on that day.. They did not follow my protocol so I was forced to locate another shop.
The second shop was in waiting and Last Sat they corrected the first shop's mistake by adding the Teflon tape around the areas where the bushings would attach and grease the entire poly bushings. then reinstalled the sway bar. This has been a long time coming and we proved that our theory that a 28mm hardrace sway bar designed for another car actually fit and articulaties correctly on our van. Again the rumor was, that a Focus sway bar would fit the Connect which John Hotchkis and I proved that it couldn't But in the process we located another sway bar that might work and actually did. This meant an upgrade from a 24mm sway bar to the 28mm sway bar. But it's bene too short of time frame and not enough driving to tell a difference just yet.
Contacting Hardrace and other vendors to let them know of our discovery, still met with opposition even after sending them pictures of the proof. irt wa smy hope to have those sites we've used to gather this information, to rewrite they data by including that the sway bar does in fact fit the Transit Connect. But those sites remain unchanged. So as far as I know, we're the only 2020 Transit Connect to have a 28mm hardrace sway bar (designed for the Ford Kuga/Escape) mounted on our performance suspension van.
