Our 2001 has been making the usual clunk in the front end. I did the standard stuff with bushings and strut links which helped a little. I then replaced the control arms which again helped a little.
All of a sudden after driving on a rough road, it started to make a very loud bang on the passenger side while going over bumps. I figured that all that was left was the strut mount so I began the disassembly including the strut link and the 3 nuts for the mount. When I got to the lower bolts and removed them, the strut assembly forcibly moved downward until it was resting on the axle.
The bottom line is that the strut rod broke through the mount and when I removed the lower bolts, the spring was free to push everything downward. I have a cheap Harbor Freight spring compressor which I installed and got as much compression as the tool was capable of. Neither of the Autozone spring compressors will work with the strut still in the van.
Any and all thoughts would be welcome, especially those that will keep me from killing myself when the spring releases.

 

Make sure you put a strong chain or chains attaching the spring to the control arm or to the cradle. You do not want that spring to let loose if your compressors fail.

 

The fact that it's done and I'm posting means I didn't kill myself. I used 2 sets of outside spring compressors that I had to invert so that the nut that's usually used for compressing the spring was on top where I couldn't get to it. This all had to be done with the strut still installed.
I jam nutted the other end of the rod and was able to carefully and slowly get enough of the tension off of the spring so that the everything finally just fell out in pieces. The mount was absolutely destroyed which was why the rod broke through it.
I took it to a local mechanic who has a device made specifically for changing strut as I wanted nothing more to do with the spring compressors.

 

After I got everything back together tonight, I took the van out for a test drive. I made sure I hit every bump, pothole and manhole cover I could find and as I told my wife, it's like driving a new van again. I can't believe we drove for 3-4 years listening to the clunking only to have it be something relatively simple as the strut mounts. Memo to self:
Automatically replace the mounts when replacing the struts.

 

The best way i have found to fix struts , is the purchase the Monroe Quick-Strut Complete Strut Assembly, it has everything including bushings already assabled with no clamps needed and takes about 90minutes each side with very little mechanical knowledge.

There 191$ us (per side), but there a good brand and have everything you need.

They also have the econo version with less features and they sell for around 150$.

 

For the vast majority of applications, I'm sure the quick struts are a good fit but in the case of our van, however, I think there would be a noticeable difference in handling because it is an ES with the towing package so the spring rate is much stiffer than most vans out there.

 

I don't think that the towing package affects the front spring rate. I believe that the stiffest front spring for a Dodge are the Sport handling package package. I'm not sure if the ES was equipped with the same front springs as the sports handling package vehicles (note: there is no difference between the sport spring rates on a 3.3L or a 3.8L engined vehicle as they both have the same part number, which is ).

However, I would interested to know what kind of spring equivalent is used on the quick fit struts. I think that type of info would be of some value to those of us on this board.