Suspension 1995 Stratus

:banghead: Hi all. My son has a 1995 Stratus that makes a distictive clunking sound underneath the front passenger side floor board. The dealer said it was the front sway bar and or bushings at a cost of many hundreds of dollars. Being the Mechanical Engineer and not basically trusting the average mechanic, I decided to have a look. The sway bar is not damaged, cracked as near as I can tell. The bushings look good. not tattered appear pliable, round and continuous. no chunks missing and no gaps. I looked at other bushings. The one under the strut frame looked a bit chewed up on the ends on both sides of the car. The upper ball joints don't look to be real tight with regard to the rubber bellow that sits on top. THE QUESTION IS -- WHAT CAN AN AVERAGE GUY DO TO FIND A BAD SUSPENSION JOINT. HOW CAN YOU FLEX IT TO SEE IF IT WILL CLUNK. The horror stories of replacing part after part to attempt to fix a problem are freaking me out.

did u take a look at your tie rods??? beucase my car was the same way and i repleaced the driver side upper rod and it was fine

this coming from your average untrustable meechanic,nay technition is going to get quite winded but here goes,
all suspension parts can appear normal and still fail .thats what makes seeing the tow truck coming so much fun.
sway bar bushings( the bushing from bar to body)can have zero movement up and down or a clunk will be heard on your everyday bump. Sway bar links (at the end of the bar connecting the bar to the lower control arm) when vehicle weight is supported under the lower control arm next to ball joint,can have no vertical movement or a clunk will be heard
Ball joints need to be checked with the weight of the suspension of of the ball joints ,in this case with the vehicle raised similar to the jacking positions for tire change
with the tire up in the air and secure place one hand at the 12 o-clock position and the other at 6 o-clock .I think i missed an oppertunity for a jock with the oter hand thing but anyway , grab the tire and rock back and forth with a fair amount of force ( thecs are strong yknow) with the help of your helper they will be able to see any horizontal movement in the upper or lower ball joint
tie rods can be checked with the tire up in the air by grabbing the tire a 3 and 9 o-clock and rocking but you will be more accurate to have the load back on the suspension and crawl under the front , have someone rock the steering wheel and look for movement (looseness) in the outer and inner tie rods don't forget the all expensive wheel bearing that can make a clunk you 'll be able to see that movement when in the ball joint check.then there are a bunch of other things but i guess thats where us untrusting average mechanics come in to play

My son has a 98 Stratus with broken tie rod end. I bought the part and have been trying diligently for two nights to take the old end off. I tried anti-seize lubricant, heat (propane torch) and even pipe wrenches. Is there a trick? I can't figure it out. I have never seen something frozen as solid as that tie rod end.

Are the threads left handed? How do you take off the entire assembly? Any ideas?