'96 Intrepid Tie Rod Bushings

Hello, group! I have a '96 Intrepid and I have had to replace the inner tie
rod end bushings twice in the past 4 + years. It this a common occurrence
for this vehicle?

Thanks in Advance

Dennis

 

I know I see it periodically discussed on both a 300M and an Intrepid
forum as a common occurrence. You might go to www.dodgeintrepid.net and
do a search in their forums - maybe search the words "inner" and
"bushings" at the same time - if nothing else, the number of threads
that pop up will give you some idea of the frequency of this problem
(pretty high).

Take a look at this link:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/albell/mods12.html. It shows you how to make
your own bushings out of standard aftermarket polyurethane stabilizer
bar link bushings - requires a little modification to those bushings,
but you also avoid having to pull the whole rack out to do it like you
would have to do with the OEM bushings.

Also, I have seen discussed that some of the aftermarket bushings
specifically for this application are two-piece, and therefore
installable without having to remove the rack - and I believe those are
also polyurethane - if not, I would go with the above link for the
roll-your-own polyurethane bushings (hint: polyurethane bushings will
last forever).

BTW - stabilizer bar bushing failures also plague these cars - there is
an aftermarket mail order source for polyurethane verions of those too
(www.suspension.com - not exact fit, but they can be made to work -
brackets have to be modified - putting a set in my Concorde now).

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")