Hey, guys.
It's Joe from AmericanTrucks.
And today, we're gonna be taking a closer look at the OPR Front Stabilizer Bar Link
Kit fitting all '09 and newer two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive F150s excluding the Raptor
models.
Now, this is gonna be a great option for you if you're looking to fix up your suspension
a little bit and improve on the design at the same time.
Now, OPR is a great company.
They've been making great stuff for a long time and it stands for Original Parts Replacement.
Now, that might not mean OEM stuff but OPR is a great replacement for the stuff that
comes from the factory on your F150.
So, if you're hearing some clunking from the front end, maybe a little bit more body roll,
some loose steering, it could be your sway bar end link that is the culprit.
Now, it's usually not the link that fails but usually, the rubber boot loses all of
its grease whether it's from a tear, some grit getting in there, stuff like that.
That can cause your sway bar end link to go.
And here's where we start to get into the improvements with our new OPR end link.
First off, those ball joints on our new end link, they are gonna have grease fittings
on there.
So, if for any reason they do start to lose grease, you can add some more with the Zerk
fittings and keep them nice and lubricated which in theory should extend the life a little
bit longer than the factory end link would last.
Now, that's again usually not what fails but that little bit of extra durability, that
little bit of peace of mind is nice.
So, we get the idea here.
This is going to improve on the design over that factory end link but keep that same factory
build quality and the price is definitely going to reflect that.
Now, I did some research earlier, the Motorcraft, the ones which, if you didn't know, Motorcraft
is owned by Ford.
That's their parts department, basically.
It's gonna drop in right around that $35 mark.
Our OPR here is gonna come in right around 45 bucks, but that's exactly where I'd expect
it to land with all the design improvements on there.
And if you're looking for a great sway bar end link replacement, this is going to be
a great option for you.
So, let me show you how this is going to install on your F150.
Right?
This is gonna be really, really easy assuming your sway bars aren't too rusty.
This should take you all in all I think an hour at most to hit both sides.
I'm gonna give it a one out of three wrenches on our difficulty meter.
So, without any further ado, let me show you what tools you'll need and how it's done.
Tools required for this install: We're gonna need an impact, a ratchet, an 18-millimeter
rationing wrench will help you a ton here but in a pinch you could get away with the
18-millimeter wrench as well, a 9-millimeter wrench, 18, 9, and 8-millimeter sockets as
well as a small pry bar.
So, this install here it's gonna be really, really simple.
You can get this done really quickly with just a couple of basic hand tools.
We're gonna start with the 18-millimeter wrench here.
Ratcheting wrench will help you ton with this install.
We're gonna be removing a nut on a ball joint though and ball joints do spin.
And if that does happen to you, you can hold it still with an eight-millimeter socket,
but in our case here this truck has been apart plenty of times.
Ours is not going to get stuck so this nut should pop right off.
So, that's one side done.
Now, we're just gonna move to the bottom and do the same thing.
Since the top one spun off so easily, we're gonna try to get this one with the impact
gun.
And again, if this ball joint does spin on you, you can hold on to the end of the stud
here with that eight-millimeter socket.
Okay.
So, you saw it happened right there.
This started to spin on us a little bit.
So, what we're gonna do, bring in the socket, bring in the ratcheting wrench and get this
off.
So, now we have one side completely taken apart, now we're gonna do the same thing to
the other side.
We already got that caught up off-camera.
But what that's going to allow you to do is swing that sway bar up and out of the way.
I'm gonna use a pry bar for a little bit of help.
And with that up, out comes our end link.
So, now that we have our factory end blink off the truck, I think now would be the perfect
time for us to stop down, put the two next to each other on the table and point out some
of the key differences here.
Now, the most obvious difference between these two, it's gonna be that grease fitting on
our new OPR.
These are completely lacking off the factory end link and if that factory end link has
gone on you, those grease fittings are gonna be a great way for you to keep the new end
link nice and lubricated and make sure you get the most life out of it possible.
So, our new OPR end link is going to stand up to the test of time way better than that
factory end link would.
Now, one more thing that's not as obvious here.
The actual shaft diameter of our new OPR is going to be a little bit thicker than factory.
About four millimeters.
It's not like that shears commonly or fails often but the extra durability is definitely
good to know you have.
Now, other than those differences.
these are gonna be really, really similar.
Another thing to note here the ends of the studs on the ball joint is going up from eight
millimeters to nine millimeters so if you need to hold that still, you will need a nine-millimeter
socket and the boots on our new OPR are blue.
But other than that, these are really, really similar in their design.
Now, before we drop in our new OPR, one more thing I did wanna mention is this does not
feel lubricated out of the box so you wanna make sure you grease this thing up good before
you drop it in your truck.
But without any further ado, let's take this back to our truck.
We already have some nuts on there, we're gonna remove those, drop this in place, and
get it tightened down.
And that is gonna be easy as just dropping in that end link.
Now, one thing I'm gonna do here is I'm gonna line that up with our actual sway bar.
And you wanna make sure you have the other side lined up as well so that when you crank
the sway bar down, both of them get seated like so.
Now, you don't have to do the other side.
These are sold as a set of one, but most likely if you have this apart, now is as good a time
as any to replace both of them.
So, I'm just gonna thread on our nuts here and then we can tighten them down.
So, again, we're gonna come in with the 18-millimeter wrench just like factory but we're upping
our socket size to hold that ball joint still to a nine-millimeter.
And what I'm actually gonna do here is bring out the wrench instead.
Now, the bottom is going to be similar except we're gonna ditch the ratcheting wrench for
the regular wrench and hop back to the socket just because the ball joint itself is a little
bit easier to spin than the nut.
And you can see why as this just gets tighter and tighter, you get into that pocket there
and it just gets harder and harder to reach.
Now, guys, that is gonna do it for me and the OPR Front Stabilizer Bar Link Kit fitting
all '09 and newer two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive F150s excluding the Raptor models.
Thank you guys for watching.
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