Front swaybar link mounting holes seem too big.

[r-charger]

2004 Envoy 4.2 4wd

I replaced my front swaybar links because when I changed over to my winter tires I noticed I could see a gap around the bolt/pin on the link that connects to the swaybar itself. My thoughts were that the hole elongated or the pin was wearing thin. When I took off the old ones (with a torch) I realized the holes (all 4 in the frontend) were perfectly round, not elongated, and that the pin wasn't wearing thin. It just seems the holes are a whole lot larger than they need to be. I installed my new ones anyways as I had destroyed my now realized perfectly good old ones ! I searched the forums here and on "another" site found a one liner that mentioned GM changed the pin size at some point, but my big question is - Do I need to make a bushing to put around the pin to take out the slack; do I need to perhaps throw a bead around the hole & drill it out to a smaller diameter; or leave well enough alone? It doesn't seem to be rattling or thumping.....

Has anyone else noticed this quirk?

OH - and Happy New Year!!

 

[Gevans17]

Well I found this out on the rear end of my 2004TB. Had a knocking noise from the rear shortly after replacing the sway bar end links. Jacked it up. Everything seemed tight at first, but then when checking with a pry bar, I found slight movement between the end link top mounting bolt and the frame. The hole in the frame is too big vs the end link bolt, allowing it to pop when under load. Very hard to tighten the nut without the bolt spinning. Bad design on GM's part, but what else is new?