Swaybar link bracket broken

[Maulana]

I've been driving a long time with the left swaybar link bracket/stabilizer bar control link broken (been telling regular mechanic for several years about instability of the front wheels/drive). ...wrecked my tires actually. So, Lex Brodie suspension specialist suggests replacing parts on both sides. He said if one goes, the other will go soon too. Another mechanic in another tire/suspension shop that looked at it said this part does not often fail and only suggested replacing the broken one, saying that the other one is fine. So, which is it? It's a $50 part (in Hawaii). This is on a '96 Cam LE, 106,300K miles.
Can anyone clarify this?
Thanks.

[Brian R.]

Don't replace the good one. They normally last the life of the car. A new one would be just as likely to break as the old one.

[Mike Gerber]

^ I have to agree with Brian. There is no advantage in replacing the other one at this time. There is no labor savings like replacing a water pump when the timing belt is off the car.

Mike

[sbagdon]

I'm going to be a bit contradictory, and say replace them both, as they're only $50/per. Most of the clunk from the front-end can be resolved with sway-bar links and lower ball joints (strut tops, give or take). Sounds like you're in HI, here in SE MI this stuff gets beaten to crap, so it's not unusual to change them like water pumps.

Yet if paying someone, and you don't hear any obvious clunk, that might be a bit much to pay for.

[Maulana]

Thank you all for your comments. I'm thinking I need to re-frame my original question.
I might be misunderstanding the 2 shops' assessments.
One points to the driver-side swaybar link BRACKET being broken and to replace just that.
The other shop pointed to replacing F Stabilizer Bar Control LINK (including the unbroken one on the passenger side).
Are they referring to the same part, or separate parts in the swaybar assembly?
Could a 'broken link' have to led to a 'broken bracket', or vice versa?

[Brian R.]

The end brackets bolt to the lower control arm and tie the links to the lower control arm. The links tie the sway bar to the brackets. No, the link breaking or bracket breaking should not cause the other part to break (although anything is possible, but this is unlikely IMO).

Replace whatever is broken. No more, no less.

[Maulana]

Got the bracket replaced & the swaying problem is fixed, but the front wheels are still clunking--next task, look again at the links. Thanks.

[Brian R.]

Check the bushings next, not the links.

[sbagdon]

I'm totally lost, in regards to this thread. On my '00 CE, the swap bar link attaches to the sway bar on the bottom, and a welded-on tab on the strut housing on the top. That's how it was, on my '96, and my '90 All-Trac. If it matters, all were manual-trans. What's with the info on the control arm?

Clunk: I go back to the MR2s, which was about the only 80k Toyota I've ever owned or purchased, mainly because of how people drove them. They always had clunking problems, and the order of parts to replace was... lower ball joints all around, sway bar links all around, front strut tops, then struts all around. The first two were 60k parts, and the last two were 120k parts, yet once you replaced that, the car felt great.

If you still have clunking, start with lower ball joints, then move to sway bar links. Even if they feel good in your hands, when loaded, that's when they clunk. Or at least that's what I'm going with, until I take a few more XV20s aparts. : )

[Brian R.]

All these parts can be examined or tested. There is no logic in replacing various parts because someone says to. Ball joints and other suspension parts do not have a set life time. They can last the life of the car or die in 50k, depending on many factors, including, but not limited to driving habits and road conditions.

His car has bolted-on mounts, as shown in the Toyota Service Manual. In regards to your '96, here may be a difference between models or manufacturing sites. Your '90 and '00 Camrys are not relevant to this discussion.

The most common source of clunking in sway bars are the bushings in the middle of the sway bar wearing out from corrosion on the surface of the sway bar. These bushings are the only significant point of friction in the sway bar assembly, and the sway bar rotates in the bushings every time the suspension moves up and down.

The most common source of clunking in many early 4th generation Camrys were the upper strut mounts.

[sbagdon]

Fair enough, I'l see if my '00 CE is NA or JP. Either way, I'm just used to my Toyotas having sway bar links on the strut body.

Also, SE MI is a torture chamber of vehicle endurance testing. If someone says... if you drive down that street, watch out for the potholes... they're not trying to make you comfortable, theyu're trying to keep you from having to call for a tow to get you out of a sinkhole. So whether you can measure it or not, lower ball joints usually go first (they might feel ok, yet on the car, they clunk like crazy), then sway bar links, then strut tops. ; )

[Brian R.]

Don't overlook the fact that the OP lives in Hawaii.

[sbagdon]

Originally Posted by Brian R.

Don't overlook the fact that the OP lives in Hawaii.

Yea, lucky car owner! : )

Just saying the usual order of what to change, when clunking happens. That's the usual order of things, for me.