Tension Struts... Let's chat, I found something interesting..

[mikeyb]

I'm shopping at some of the online Dodge parts houses and found a place that has the tension stuts (lateral arms) for less than $30. Can that be right??

MikeyB

[zero10]

Interesting information, I have a clunk on the front left when I drive down my alley and it pulls pretty hard when I drive on grooved roads or bumpy roads. I have jacked up the front-left corner of the car and pushed/pulled on the wheel as hard as I can without finding any play at all or hearing any noise. I assume if these go bad it would take a reasonable amount of force (read: more than I can apply by hand) to cause the issue to appear?... Maybe I found my culprit!

[fogey]

I have after market Bilstiens all the way around and Moog outer tie rod ends . The Bilstiens make a whole lot of difference in how The "Beast" handles.

[zonian]

I'm shopping at some of the online Dodge parts houses and found a place that has the tension stuts (lateral arms) for less than $30. Can that be right??

MikeyB

Mine were $48.78 ea.

Paul

[mikeyb]

This is the place that has the tension struts for $30.
http://www.makeitdodgeparts.com/

MikeyB

[Ron380]

Now if we could just get the rest of the frakkin' bushings for the front AWD suspension...

[Coopers_Dad]

Hey guys I did my tension struts today ball joints were well worn and pretty sloppy along with torn bushings. What I will recommend to everyone doing this is get new ball joint nuts. Mine stripped clean on the passenger side and with a whole lot of patience we were able to get the driers side off but it wanted to pull the threads out. So the car is stuck in my in laws garage until Monday when the dealer opens again and I can get two new ball joint nuts.

So save yourself my troubles and get new ball joint nuts.

[skeletonizer]

This is the place that has the tension struts for $30.
http://www.makeitdodgeparts.com/

MikeyB

The site doesn't specify if that is an SRT part or not? Initially I thought they were the same part but apparently the SRT part is beefier.

[karfreek]

How is this redesigned bushing holding up?

Jay

[06magSE]

will the beefier srt tension struts fit on a se?

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

will the beefier srt tension struts fit on a se?

it should, same suspension geometry, pm fnkycld I believe he might have a confirmation on the answer, I think he installed them on his 2.7L 300

[shocknawful]

for awhile people have been having the Tension Strut Bushing Fail, this causes clunking and vibration when driving..

Back at Spring Fest, Chrysler had a Cut-Away Challenger Model on display, I was able to see the Tension struts and get the part numbers off the arm..

cross-referencing that part number (5290828AA and 5290829AA (Right and Left)) showed that Chrysler had changed the part in 2009 (talking about SRT part here)

additionally the part for the SRT and the v6 and 5.7L models was now different (as of 2007) those part numbers are 4782612AC and 4782613AC (right and left).


----


Ok so since there is a difference in part numbers and my research here and on 3CF showed that the SRT guys were not having (or at least reporting) the issue as much as the V6 and 5.7L lead me to believe the part is actually different.


So one day when I was working at the three lettered race shop everyone hates, I was able to look at and compare an SRT and 5.7L Tension Strut..

Both parts are the same length, but the SRT part is thicker, the bushing is thicker but not as large in diameter, and the bearing on the other end was more than twice the size in diameter.

So I ordered some of the SRT parts and they fit perfect on my 5.7L and low and behold 3 years of steering vibration (very slight, but still there) at 65-75mph was gone..

I bought them a few weeks prior to my torque convertor seizing and taking the short block and tranmission with it.

so while my car was getting warranty repair for those items I asked the dealer if he could install the Tension Struts as everything was apart anyway.

Since technically the Tension Struts are a warranty item, they replaced them using my SRT parts under my Max Care plan.. But they had to order the replacement parts (this was back on July 24th BTW)


That brings us to today:

I got a phone call this morning that my parts were in.. WTF? Well since I had supplied my own Tension Struts, and they warrantied it, they had to order the correct parts for my car, so they thought to be nice they would just give them to me and allow me to return them for cash to cover the cost of the SRT ones I purchased..


That was very nice of them, however once I saw the Tension Struts I opted to keep them, and this is why...


There is a new V6 and 5.7L part number for 2010, and that is what I received..

the box was marked with the 2009 replacement part number 5180607AA and 5810606AA (left and right)

BUT

the parts in the box were marked 5070123 and 5070122 (Left and Right) revision is presumed to be AA (last 2 digits)

Dealer look it up and it is a new part number for 2010 and this is why:

a completely revised bushing:






compare that to the old bushing, which is solid:



and cracks like this:








additionally you will note that the bushing has it's own part number 5180608AA and dealer showed this had a cost of $1.00 but I suspect that is because there is no actual price set for it yet.. But this means the bushing can now be ordered separately and pressed into the existing Tension Strut, I didn't want to remove the safety cap off the bearing, but I am wondering if that too will be a separate part number, seeing as Moog is now making/selling it as a separate part.

This is a great post; excellent pictures and totally reinforces my personal observations !

(per my revised tension strut desin thread)