Drove my old truck through Nebraska and a cheap sway bar link taught me a lesson

I was hauling a trailer full of furniture from Lincoln to Omaha last month, and my 2001 Silverado started feeling real wobbly around exit 426. I pulled off and found the driver side sway bar link had snapped clean in half, so I limped to a parts store and grabbed the $8 one. That thing didn't even last 30 miles before the bushing popped out and I was back to white-knuckling the steering wheel in the right lane. Has anyone else had bad luck with those bargain suspension parts, or did I just get a lemon of a link?

3 comments

3 Comments

zara_sanchez15d ago

Oh man, I actually read something about this on a truck forum a while back, those super cheap sway bar links are basically made of butter. Idk if it's just the metal or the bushings but you're definitely not the only one that's had them fail like that.

walker.julia14d ago

@zara_sanchez got any idea what brand those cheap ones were on the forum? I've been seeing guys grab the stuff off Amazon for like twenty bucks and wonder if it's the same crap.

robinp8914d ago

Walker Julia those Amazon ones are a total gamble. I've had the same experience with the cheap Moog or Duralast ones from there, the bushings dry rot in like a year. @zara_sanchez is right about the butter metal too. The off brand ones I tried from a no name seller on Amazon literally snapped the bolt on the second pothole. Spend the extra ten bucks for a name brand like AC Delco or Motorcraft if you don't want to do the job twice.