01 Caravan Sport V6 with 63k. The front end sounds like it has
163k. Feel every bump in the raod through the steering wheel.

I'm sure there are bushing worn and maybe even a ball joint
problem. After all, no way to grease ='s JUNK in early life!

I read in a post several months ago that most of you mini van
owners said this was *normal* for DC's junk to do this. One reply
even stated he had his front end rebuilt and not much difference.

Question is; It this JUNK worth having rebuilt? I'm sure at the very
least have the ball joints checked and replaced if needed.

I've owned several DC products over the years. I'm about ready
to try another maker and maybe even go non American made.
I'm not saying they are any better but DC in the last 10 years have
gone WAY down in their quality. Low bid parts building their garbage
='s lost buyers, IE; ME!

 

I have enjoyed all of my DC's so far. I found them to be reliable vehicles. Anyway from what I did with mine was to replace both axles, struts, motor mounts and tires. Worked great. Axles were about $65 a piece, struts around $80.00, motor mounts around $60. Not too bad considering the price of a new vehicle.

 

Well what the stealership wanted to fix my problem and what a local
honest shop wanted was about a $600.00 difference.

The noise that the stealership said would require a front end rebuild
was nothing more than bushings on the torsion bar. $63.00 later, all
is well and quiet!

It seems DC engineers (so they are called) didn't provide tight enough
torsion bar holders thus causing the bar to *move* with evey bump in
the road and that causes bushings to ware out faster. The honest shop
that fixed my problem used shims to re-fasten the bar to the front end.
This keeps it much tighter. The honest shop has done this to several
DC's mini vans.

The stealership uses no shims. You're back to hearing noise in a short
time. Don't take my word for it. I've read it on this forum from other
owners.