[msmcintosh]

I replaced my stabilizer bar end link last year. Today I noticed a clunking sound coming from the rear. When I checked the end link, the bushing and rod that mounts to the strut had slipped off the part that bolts to the stabilizer bar. The bushing was halfway out of the metal ring it's housed in. Opposite the threads is a short rod the bushing slides over it. There is nothing on the end of the rod to prevent the bushing from slipping off. I'm baffled as to why the bushing might have worked it's way off. I used vise grips to push everything back together. I figure as is, it will slip off again.

 

[peva]

What brand was your replacement end link kit? Maybe the stud head is small enough to allow the bushing to work its way over it? The one in your photos looks like it has a small head. (I don't know if that's the brand you have.)

The AC Delco 'Professional' line part should be a good choice. (Get the 'Professional' line, not the 'Advantage' line.) The head looks much larger. Rock Auto has them. From the photos of the Moog part, it looks like it has a head that is too small (unless there's a washer under the head that you can't see in the photos.)

 

[msmcintosh]

What brand was your replacement end link kit? Maybe the stud head is small enough to allow the bushing to work its way over it? The one in your photos looks like it has a small head. (I don't know if that's the brand you have.)

The AC Delco 'Professional' line part should be a good choice. (Get the 'Professional' line, not the 'Advantage' line.) The head looks much larger. Rock Auto has them. From the photos of the Moog part, it looks like it has a head that is too small (unless there's a washer under the head that you can't see in the photos.)

The pictures I posted are the ACDELCO 45G0086 {#88912235} Professional; Link & Bushing Kit.

I looked up my order at RockAuto and had purchased this ACDELCO 45G0086 {#88912235} (Daily Driver) Professional; Link & Bushing Kit I purchased it on 12/01/2019. It stayed on there a little over a year.

If that's how the part was designed, I'm wondering why it slipped off? Maybe something else is wrong? I'll have to take a better look up under the car. I was just laying on my back in the driveway, while the car was sitting on the ground. Not much room to check everything.

 

[peva]

Interesting. See if you can get some clear close-up photos of both sides of that ring from different angles showing how the stud is terminated at the ends of the bushing. Do that on the passenger side and driver side parts to see if something's different about the one. That may be difficult to do with them on the car.

Maybe you just got a bad one. If the other-side part looks good, maybe only replace the one. Looks like their warranty is 12 months/12k miles, Even if it's still in warranty, probably not worth fooling with for a $20 part.

 

[D725U]

If that's how the part was designed, I'm wondering why it slipped off? Maybe something else is wrong?

Perhaps your sway bar is bent and the stabilizer link is breaking from stress?

 

[msmcintosh]

The above picture is after I tightened it back.

This picture you can see it slipping off the bushing.

Top mount.

Stabilizer bar bushing.

Right side. Looks crooked. The rod the bushing slips on to looks longer than the left side.

 

[msmcintosh]

Please disregard this reply.

 

[peva]

From your last photo, D725U may be right. There's a definite tilt the the link. Find out why.

 

[msmcintosh]

I'll take the right side wheel off to get a better look at that side and compare the sides. The left side is the side that came apart.

I drove the car for almost 12 years with the last set of end links. The reason I replaced the left side end link was, because the nut on the top loosened up and the polyurethane bushings got chewed up from the end link moving up and down. I don't remember what brand it was or how it was constructed.

 

[D725U]

Well if the bar is the culprit you can always try heating up the corners where the link sits and hope that it bends back in shape. Curious: has a suspension part ever collapsed in the rear, like a strut? Underbody otherwise looks pretty clean.

 

[msmcintosh]

Nothing like that has happened in the 13 years I've owned it.

Now that I think about the right side trailing arm has a slight bend in it. I don't know what happened to it. It was like that when I bought it. I had alignments done and other work done and no ones said anything about it. If you look at the picture with the tilted end link, you can see the bend in the trailing arm. Here's a picture of it.

 

[D725U]

Two possibilities: something hard hit the trailing arm (road debris?) or the previous strut collapsed, falling on the trailing arm and creating a bend in the sway bar.

 

[msmcintosh]

It's the left side of the vertical part of the end link that slipped off of the rod on the part bolted to the stabilizer bar. It didn't break. I was able to slip it back on. I don't understand why it would work it's way off the rod. The right side end link, crooked as it is, hasn't been a problem (so far). The previous left tie rod end never slipped off like that. Would the right side being bent cause the problem on the left side?

 

[D725U]

Would the right side being bent cause the problem on the left side?

Yes because you are putting stress on the left stabilizer link. The left side is likely sitting higher now than the right side instead of being flush.