I just recently had two new tires put on the front end of my Caravan and was told that the front stabalizer links were broken. The mechanic also said this was a fairly commom problem. Can I replace them myself and if so could someone direct me to a walk through? If I can't do it myself what is the cost of having them done?

Just had this done at dealer on 2003 T&C with 52,600 miles on it. Yes, you can do it yourself. 2 ea. sway bar links @ $43.00 ea, = $86.00, 4 ea. hex nuts @ $1.60 ea.= $6.40, 2 ea. Sway bar bushings @ $4.45ea.=$8.90. Total of parts is $101.30. Total Labor is $161.10 for grand total of $262.40 (less tax).

I suggest having an independant repair shop do the job or do it yourself. Use links made by moog. They make very good suspension components and it is obvious that the factory ones are junk.

I just replaced the links on my 1999. They cost about $35cdn each and come complete. There are no additional nuts and bolts or bushings as described by the dealer replacement post. They are easy to replace but takes some time and a bit of contorsion but it is fairly easy.

A repair shop shoud charge no more than 1 hr labour to replace. Unfortunately due to the very poor design of these parts replacement is common.

Remove the front wheel and you will see the link from the sway bar near the lower control arm, onto the strut. The Bar is about a foot long and has a ball joint at each end. You will have to use a wrench to loosten the nuts and the end of the bolt has a hex or torx end to stop the ball joint from spinning when you try to remove the nuts. The easiest thing to do is to grip the opposite side of the Bolt with vice grips while loostening the nuts. They are a pain to get off.

Once removed you will have to appy some pressure to the sway bar to remove the link but it will come. installation is opposite from removal but the nut shoud go on without the need to hold the ball joint.

My advice is make sure the new links are the greaseable kind as they seem to last a bit longer but the design of this part is obviously one that left the drawing board too fast.

Thanks for the advice Vats. Sorry for the response time. I'll get right to it.