Front Sway Bar Link replacement
02-24-2015, 06:02 PM
#21
Administrator
Join Date: 10-13-2011
Location: Welland,Ont Canada
Posts: 37,625
That depends on the hourly rate of the shop you take it to.
I've swapped them out in 15 minutes per side so half an hour at $95.00 per hour , would be $47.50 plus parts, I get my parts on line they are usally much cheaper, I recommend Moog
I've swapped them out in 15 minutes per side so half an hour at $95.00 per hour , would be $47.50 plus parts, I get my parts on line they are usally much cheaper, I recommend Moog
10-25-2015, 08:09 PM
#23
Join Date: 10-25-2015
Location: Dayton, OH
Posts: 1
Rattle noise in front end and replacing sway bar end links
I had a rattle in the front end that was could be heard low in the passenger side floor board, mostly when the suspension was moving a bit. Driving on a road with joints could excite the condition. Kind of low speed, and body moving slightly, and then a bit of a rattle would get started. There are multiple fixes suggested for this noise. I've not replaced the sway bar mounts yet, and thought the links would be the easier replacement. Links are often indicated as being the culprit for this type of noise. You will know if the problem is solved once you have the links off in hand, and have taken a test drive after the replacement.
I have a 2008 HHR LS, with 2.2L. I had trouble finding the link length anywhere on this site. I measured mine on the vehicle. Turn the wheels all the way right to measure the link on the drivers side. Mine was roughly a little under 10 inches. I've bought a lot of parts from Rock Auto, and they seem to have the good parts for this fix. I bought Moog K750012. They are 9.86 inches center to center, and cost less than $21 each. They have sweet Zerk fittings. Grease em up. When you move the joints on these puppies, they are tight.
OK, get your floor jack under the car on a good point. Insert a jackstand and make sure the jackstand is carrying the majority of the load. You can leave the floor jack in place. You can replace the stab bar link with the wheel hanging. Make sure that you loosen the wheel nuts before getting all of the weight off the wheel. You can do the links one side at a time. You don't need to have both wheels off the ground prior to starting. Remove the wheel on the side that you want to work on. I started on the passenger side, as this was the side I was hearing the noise on. Be careful, sound is kind of non-directional. It's hard to know where its coming from. I read one close by thread where a dealer was saying the noise was in the dash. Yeah sure. The noise may be passing through the dash, but likely is not in the dash. Sorry, off track. So, you have the wheel off, and the vehicle is safely supported. Get some spray penetrent, Liquid Wrench, or similar. Carefully soak both the upper and lower link attachment bolts. Use a rag to catch overspray. Be careful, you are close to your brake rotors. Just don't get too happy with the Liquid Wrench. With a hammer tap the link nuts. And now something controversial. Take one of the nuts off the new link and thread it onto a bolt of one of the existing sway bar links. You want to do this for both the upper and low bolts. The idea is to clean off the bolts before you loosen the old nuts on the links. You will find another thread where someone was complaining about not being able to get the nut off. If you are not patient, and happen to get the nut hung up on the bolt, you will be majorly unhappy. So, go slow. Lots of penetrent, and run a new nut on and off the old bolts a couple of time. Get the threads really cleaned up. I used a Craftsman 18mm open head driver to remove the bolts. If you do a good job of cleaning up the old threads, you should spend maybe 30-45 minutes replacing the link on one side. If you hang up a nut, it could take hours unless you are really handy. One of my nuts did get hung up, and I used a dremel with a diamond cut off blade to cut a slot in the nut. The idea for me was not to cut the nut entirely loose, but just to get the stress off the nut and threads. That and more penetrant, and some gentle tapping with a hammer. Once you barely start loosening the old nut, the joint will start rotating. You need to use some thin vise grips to clamp onto a round surface close to the joint. Yeah, round. What rocket scientist thought that up? Really get the vise grips clamped down hard, or the joint will slip, and you will be turning the joint and not getting the nut off the bolt. The new joints are square, 19mm. You will be able to get a nice open end on the new link. OK, you will get the link off. Now check the motion of the joints. Likely kind of loose, and maybe really loose. Not good. Install the new link. Torque the nuts down. You will need to get an open end on the back close to the joint to really get the nut torqued down. I think I saw something over 50 ft-lbs.
When you put your wheel back on, always tighten nuts in a star pattern. You can contribute to brake rotor runout if you don't, and you will have another kind of front end noise. Use a torque wrench for final tightening of your wheel nuts. Lower the car. Even after one side, especially if you have replaced a side where you think the noise is more present, take a quick test drive. Go find a road with some joints, bumps, cracks, shallow pot holes, and kind of swerve a bit. Is the rattle still there? Maybe not. With my car most of the noise was gone after I replaced the passenger side link. I replaced the other link, and most of my front end noise is completely gone. The passenger side sway bar end link was definitely the big contributor for me. I'm happy with the result.
Good luck if you try this fix. Other than getting a nut hung up, this is an easy fix. I would definitely start with this for a small rattle noise. Others did mention the sway bar mounts. There are only 2 mounts, and 4 total nuts, but they may be a little harder to get at. Before you start any of this, you can try pushing on the front end, and grabbing, bars, links, struts, before you start the repair. You might find something else loose. But I will say from reading threads, it appears that the sway bar end links are often the root cause of rattling noise in the front end.
I have a 2008 HHR LS, with 2.2L. I had trouble finding the link length anywhere on this site. I measured mine on the vehicle. Turn the wheels all the way right to measure the link on the drivers side. Mine was roughly a little under 10 inches. I've bought a lot of parts from Rock Auto, and they seem to have the good parts for this fix. I bought Moog K750012. They are 9.86 inches center to center, and cost less than $21 each. They have sweet Zerk fittings. Grease em up. When you move the joints on these puppies, they are tight.
OK, get your floor jack under the car on a good point. Insert a jackstand and make sure the jackstand is carrying the majority of the load. You can leave the floor jack in place. You can replace the stab bar link with the wheel hanging. Make sure that you loosen the wheel nuts before getting all of the weight off the wheel. You can do the links one side at a time. You don't need to have both wheels off the ground prior to starting. Remove the wheel on the side that you want to work on. I started on the passenger side, as this was the side I was hearing the noise on. Be careful, sound is kind of non-directional. It's hard to know where its coming from. I read one close by thread where a dealer was saying the noise was in the dash. Yeah sure. The noise may be passing through the dash, but likely is not in the dash. Sorry, off track. So, you have the wheel off, and the vehicle is safely supported. Get some spray penetrent, Liquid Wrench, or similar. Carefully soak both the upper and lower link attachment bolts. Use a rag to catch overspray. Be careful, you are close to your brake rotors. Just don't get too happy with the Liquid Wrench. With a hammer tap the link nuts. And now something controversial. Take one of the nuts off the new link and thread it onto a bolt of one of the existing sway bar links. You want to do this for both the upper and low bolts. The idea is to clean off the bolts before you loosen the old nuts on the links. You will find another thread where someone was complaining about not being able to get the nut off. If you are not patient, and happen to get the nut hung up on the bolt, you will be majorly unhappy. So, go slow. Lots of penetrent, and run a new nut on and off the old bolts a couple of time. Get the threads really cleaned up. I used a Craftsman 18mm open head driver to remove the bolts. If you do a good job of cleaning up the old threads, you should spend maybe 30-45 minutes replacing the link on one side. If you hang up a nut, it could take hours unless you are really handy. One of my nuts did get hung up, and I used a dremel with a diamond cut off blade to cut a slot in the nut. The idea for me was not to cut the nut entirely loose, but just to get the stress off the nut and threads. That and more penetrant, and some gentle tapping with a hammer. Once you barely start loosening the old nut, the joint will start rotating. You need to use some thin vise grips to clamp onto a round surface close to the joint. Yeah, round. What rocket scientist thought that up? Really get the vise grips clamped down hard, or the joint will slip, and you will be turning the joint and not getting the nut off the bolt. The new joints are square, 19mm. You will be able to get a nice open end on the new link. OK, you will get the link off. Now check the motion of the joints. Likely kind of loose, and maybe really loose. Not good. Install the new link. Torque the nuts down. You will need to get an open end on the back close to the joint to really get the nut torqued down. I think I saw something over 50 ft-lbs.
When you put your wheel back on, always tighten nuts in a star pattern. You can contribute to brake rotor runout if you don't, and you will have another kind of front end noise. Use a torque wrench for final tightening of your wheel nuts. Lower the car. Even after one side, especially if you have replaced a side where you think the noise is more present, take a quick test drive. Go find a road with some joints, bumps, cracks, shallow pot holes, and kind of swerve a bit. Is the rattle still there? Maybe not. With my car most of the noise was gone after I replaced the passenger side link. I replaced the other link, and most of my front end noise is completely gone. The passenger side sway bar end link was definitely the big contributor for me. I'm happy with the result.
Good luck if you try this fix. Other than getting a nut hung up, this is an easy fix. I would definitely start with this for a small rattle noise. Others did mention the sway bar mounts. There are only 2 mounts, and 4 total nuts, but they may be a little harder to get at. Before you start any of this, you can try pushing on the front end, and grabbing, bars, links, struts, before you start the repair. You might find something else loose. But I will say from reading threads, it appears that the sway bar end links are often the root cause of rattling noise in the front end.
10-25-2015, 11:26 PM
#24
Administrator
Join Date: 10-13-2011
Location: Welland,Ont Canada
Posts: 37,625
Nice first instead of possible damage to your new nuts, use a thread chaser or a die the correct thread of course!
Second it's 59 ft lbs of torque on them there new nuts
Third you got the right Moog part number it is listed in this here thread and some others too!
Look under suspension brakes tmps
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/comm...-part-i-48833/
Second it's 59 ft lbs of torque on them there new nuts
Third you got the right Moog part number it is listed in this here thread and some others too!
Look under suspension brakes tmps
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/comm...-part-i-48833/
01-07-2016, 08:48 AM
#25
Senior Member
Join Date: 08-12-2008
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 156
I know this is an old thread, but I have a feeling my front end clunk is the sway bar links. MY dealer quoted, over the phone, $45 each for the links and $66 EACH for labor. Their rate is $110 an hour. Seems like the time/labor is a little high. I'm taking it in Monday to have it checked. Any thoughts?
01-07-2016, 10:39 AM
#26
Moderator
Join Date: 01-23-2009
Location: Fredericksburg,VA
Posts: 25,326
I know this is an old thread, but I have a feeling my front end clunk is the sway bar links. MY dealer quoted, over the phone, $45 each for the links and $66 EACH for labor. Their rate is $110 an hour. Seems like the time/labor is a little high. I'm taking it in Monday to have it checked. Any thoughts?
01-07-2016, 05:22 PM
#27
Senior Member
Join Date: 08-12-2008
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 156
Yeah, you're right donbrew, thanks. I read throughout the threads to use Moog links. I see they have two versions listed as compatable with the HHR: K750012 which, I think, are 10" centers and have grease fittings and K80252 which are 12" centers but don't have grease fittings (permanently lubricated?). Can I use either length with no problems? I'd rather not have to worry about lubeing them if I don't have to.
01-07-2016, 05:30 PM
#28
Senior Member
Join Date: 08-12-2008
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 156
Ah ha! I just read your post in another thread, donbrew. You stated the K75002 (10") is the one to use. I also see it mentioned in the paragraph above which I hadn't read completely.
Last edited by SlickRick2; 01-09-2016 at 04:10 PM.
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