The bottom line is, contrary to what I was told, read, and watched, you can change the sway bar on a 2003 Century (mine is 3.1L) without any special procedures- at least with an OEM or a Dorman bar.

My sway bar was split at both ends where rust tends to make the ends break off. I was given a quote of over $500, with the grave information that the sub frame would need to be dropped to pull it off. I brought the car home to consider doing it myself and to see if that frame drop was really necessary. I was encouraged when I saw numerous similar car models repaired without dropping the sub frame. Then I caught wind that the 2003 may be the one year that actually may need to be dropped because of a change in the exhaust. I saw one post where someone was able to "squeeze it through" using a jack to twist the bar to clear and then knock it through. Ok, that might be doable. Even A1 auto's video covering the sway bar on these models pauses to mention that some models may need the frame dropped. There is a video of a 2001 repair that ends up over-dropping the frame and messing up the steering!

I decided to at least start taking it apart and see what I thought of it.
So after removing the bolts from the slightly cramped frame with a combination of 3/8 socket set and a closed end wrench (a ratcheted wrench would have been nice) and sawing through the link bolts to separate the pieces, I wondered if the bar would even come out. Looking at it closely, I didn't see why not. And in fact this was the easy part. There was nothing to it. I pulled it partway through the driver's side, let the other end go to the ground then pulled it out from under the car on the other side. (This way I knew I was avoiding the cramped part in the middle with the exhaust manifold.) This seemed to prove to me that putting the bar back in should work.

Then I realized the Dorman bar I bought claimed to be a "consolidated" design (more universal?) and was thicker and heaver than the original. Maybe shaped differently too? Sounded like trouble.
I tried feeding it through a few times and was definitely fighting me. The difference in weight was substantial and harder to maneuver. The thickness seemed to make the feed difficult. Several attempts failed.
I thought perhaps only an OEM was going to clear everything. So I experimented with the old OEM piece more and refined my method and then tried the Dorman again. It worked. I wish I could have video taped it, but I wasn't doing it twice...

The way to do it is to start by taking the rotors off (may not be strictly necessary, but the rotors do cramp things up), and turning the steering far right (this makes it easier for the bar end to clear the steering rod once it "gets there"). Get under the car, feet towards the front, chest under where the bar needs to go. Feed the bar in from the passenger side at a high angle with the tip of the end up at the top of the wheel well. Feed it through the middle and over the frame to your left, rotating it as you go so that when the end comes out it is underneath the steering rod. It got hung up on the top of the rod a few times. The passenger side end, for me, ended up settling right where it was supposed to. That's all there is to it. If you get an OEM bar its even easier because its easier to handle. The Dorman may be superior, I don't know, at least the ends are not split like the OEM so it won't suffer the same rust and crack problem
that plagues the OEM bar.

 

https://imgur.com/a/DQdfyX2

 

Sometimes you just have to get in there and do what has to be done and , you did it !!

 

So true!
Hope it inspires someone.
Thanks Hanky.

 

Have been to many GM tng classes and was taught the "Proper way" to do things, but unfortunately not all situations are covered and you need to try different things from the "normal" if there is such a thing, and get the job done. And this i where experience takes over. Complements again on doing what what was not supposed to be possible.