1990 Dodge Caravan anti-sway bar.

[Lee W]

I had a front wheel shimmy in my 1990 Dodge Caravan, 136,000 miles. When everything I tried made no difference I took it down to my corner gas station mechanics for diagnosis. Their answer was the rack was bad, and gave me an estimate of $1300 to repair it. With the help of a friend I replaced the rack but it did nothing to fix the shimmy. I next tried a rebuilt half axle, ($50) and that did fix the shimmy. I had to lower the sway bar to replace the rack and again to replace the half axle. The sway bar was fine after replacing the rack, but I got unlucky the second time and it makes a clunking noise on corners and bumps. (I know it’s the sway bar because I temporarily removed it and did not get the clunking noise on a test drive. I’ve replaced the four rubber bushings, and I’ve reassembled it many times to make sure that there is equal free space at the ends of the sway bar. Any help would be much appreciated.

Lee W in San Jose.
[email protected]

[RexNfx400]

If the sway bar isn't touching any other metal then it really shouldn't be able to make that noise. Maybe when the sway bar is hooked up and you have that added "up" force on the control arms its something else. Struts? Mounts?... Just a thought.

[kuujak]

Make sure body of ball joint isn't loose in the table, check with a prybar with vehicle both on and off ground - this may be hard to see - also check cross frame member nuts on each side. HTH