Front Suspension upper swivel

[Stuart]

I have been telling my local Chrysler garage that a very distinct and persistant 'knock' can be heard from the front lefthand suspension leg. This has been getting worse for over a year. The car spent the last four weeks in the garage where the mechanic passed it as fit to drive Thursday. On Sunday the top swivel became detached and the wheel fell into the wheel arch and rubbed against the body work. The car was recovered to the Chrysler garage and both top 'A' frames have been replaced at a cost of £450.00. They could not determine any wear in the front righthand 'A' frame on the car but once removed the upper swivel shows 0.5 inch vertical movement and would have failed soon. Chrysler should advise owners of high mileage cars to replace both 'A' frames at 100.000 miles. My failure occured at 10m.p.h. Imagine the damage of a 'wheel station detachment at 70m.p.h on the motorway or losing control on a bend on a tree lined road. Death could have occured 'YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED'

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[Cracker]

The Chrysler Mechanic passed it!? When are they going to refund your money and when are you hiring a lawyer?

[Stuart]

I have a good relationship with my local dealer/garage the car has been well cared for whenever i have asked for their help. Because of their high labour rate I do the simple jobs myself or ask a local fully accredited technician for jobs I won't do but for the really technical jobs Chrysler do the work.
The front suspension 'knock' has fooled us all, it's been getting much worse of late. I wrote in Feb 2009 for them to investigate top and bottom swivels and report. I clearly pointed them at the area of concern and still they could detect nothing. They tried 'weight on the car' and 'weight off' but it does not show wear.
The car is used for 'mini cab' work and is subject to full MOT inspection every 6 months as a requirement of the Public Carriage Office, even that inspection failed to detect this wear.
Hence my posting, to seriously raise a concern which could cause death.
A grease nipple and regular greasing would have prevented this! We have been fooled by the motor trade and manufacturers into accepting sealed for life bearings, whose life do they mean certainly not the life of the car and the bearing 'knocks out' in a year. Disgraceful.

[Cracker]

I agree, i still belivieve the garage should be held accountable... They let the car go and said it was safe... In the states this would have caused some serious issues.

[tormont2005]

This appears to be a common problem. My 2005 300 just had the ball joints and tie-rods replaced at 87,000 km (54,000+ miles). The rubber shroud on the lower ball joint failed and I had 6mm and 4 mm movement on each of the two sides. The rubber bushing on the tie-rods were also worn out. My neighbours 2007 charger has had the same problem.

The dealership said this was a problem from the get go. The rubber shrouds were designined improperly. The work was replaced in part under an extended warranty. Money well spent in this case. You may want to check to see if there was any recall forthis problem.

[Stuart]

Not that easy my friend, I wrote to Chrysler (UK) with copies of my letter dated February2009 and January 2010 both showing my concern about the persistant 'knock' at the front of the car particularly noticeable when turning on rough ground.
Chrysler denied any responsibility 'since the car has covered in excess of 72,000 miles', though the guarantee here is 2 years unlimited mileage.
The local Chrysler dealer did not charge any labour for changing these parts.
Solicitor? They run £250 an hour with no guarantee of success!
Small claims court would be my only opportunity to claim.