Mini-Van Sway Bar Links

My 2004 Town & Country mini-van started clunking in the front last year so I
changed out the sway bar links and bushings with HD stuff from NAPA. Well
the clunk is back and my service center says that drivers side link is shot
again, after 15,000 miles. They are putting in what they claim are the best
aftermarket links as I type. Apparently this design is a bit hard on the
sway bar links. I found that removing and installing the links myself to be
very difficult because of the design of the parts involved and the area
provided to fit in hand tools, etc.

Richard.

 

My 2002 Grand Caravan started clunking right after a major service a
few months ago. I took it to my favorite shop, and they diagnosed it
as the sway bar links.

I got to watch the process, and was shown exactly the how and why.
Basically it is a crappy design - period. Even the BEST components of
a bad design will fail. Apparently there are some brands which are
either fitted with grease nipples or have a hole present to accept the
installation of grease nipples. (the "stock" parts are "lifetime
lubriated - and you have discovered, along with thousands of others,
just how SHORT that "lifetime" is.)

The odd thing is, that while mine DID clunk, I never got around to
replacing them just yet. And the other day I noticed that they don't
clunk any more!????!!!!

Oh well, with this poor design, it is only a matter of time.

While I watched them disassemble the top of the drivers side link, I
observed the mechanic and what he did. Basically, he admitted as much
about what you said - it is a pain in the neck to repace the links
with regular hand tools. He used one wrench, and an air tool to spin
the INNER piece back out through the nut in the assembly. Using the
air tool method, removeal was relatively quick.

But having observed the whole thing, what a nasty design! I have seen
some nasty stuff in my time, but in the past at least nasty designs
have been made reliable enough that they did not require frequent
servicing! Some of todays stuff is DESIGNED to generate after sales
service. What a PITA.