Oval nuts on Sway Bar Link nuts?...

[Slowboat]

So I replaced the passenger side Sway bar link (control bar link) on my 2003 Chrysler Town and Country tonight.

I'm sure the crappy part I purchased is part of the problem:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/we...-TRW_18511849-P_78_R|GRPCHASAMS_980677528____

But I was very surprised that nuts that fasten this thing on were oval - both the threaded hole, and the outside of the nut weren't round (Couldn't use a ratcheting wrench on them). It was the same on both of them btw. Is this common? It's not something I have seen before.

I was also pissed off to find that you tighten it differently than the stock link. On the new one, there is an allen socket on the end of the bolt that keeps it from spinning - what this means is you have to use a wrench on it, as opposed to an impact to remove - probably turning a 2 minute job removing them a into a 30 minute swear fest.

 

[BigAl62]

I've replaced more of these sway bar links than I can count, but I've never run into an oval nut on the original or the replacement part. Is it a nut that has been slightly flattened to try to make it self locking or is is a smooth oval? And yes, different parts companies do different things to hold the stud so it doesn't spin, some good, some bad. At least it's not like some of the nuts Ford used on the first generation Escorts and Tempos - 8 sided (and not even lengths on the sides) and approx. 17.3 mm - needed to buy a special wrench from Snap On to work on them and this very wrench is collecting dust in my box of oddball tools that I'll never use again.

 

[fr0mastaj]

Ive only change it on my Nissan Altima, and the OE's were also oval shaped as you describe. Had to use a regular open end wrench on it. One of the few times I ever required an open end...

 

[srmofo]

Ive run into a few, they just squish the nut in an attempt to turn it into a locking nut. Must of the time they are too squished and wont even thread on. I reuse the old nuts with some locktite when I come across them

 

[Slowboat]

Ive run into a few, they just squish the nut in an attempt to turn it into a locking nut. Must of the time they are too squished and wont even thread on. I reuse the old nuts with some locktite when I come across them

Good to know, and super ghetto that they actually squish the nuts. If it hadn't been on both of them, I would have returned it for a defective item.

The nuts that I took off were pretty mangled, otherwise I would have put them back on.

 

[Group B]

I wouldn't call them ghetto. They should be too squished to easily thread on, otherwise they wouldn't be locking. They're very common to find as OEM nuts on German cars. Most often on exhaust systems where other locking methods fail due to high temp. (Can't use nylock nuts on headers, and lock washers loose their tension from the heat). Plus they're easier and faster to use than properly cleaning a fastener and applying loctite, which is most likely the reason you'll find them on the suspension links. That said, I've never had an issue fitting a box wrench or a socket on any of them. They're probably metric, or the opposite of whatever you're using.