I took my truck in today to get new front tires and they tried to tell me I need new ball joints, upper and lower for the low, low price of only $850.00. I 've never replaced ball joints so I don't know what goes into it but for $850.00 I bet I could give it a shot myself. I asked why so much and he said they are MOOG ball joints and they have a lifetime warranty and are better than anything else I could buy.
My question is, is $850.00 reasonable for all 4 ball joints? I am thinking about buying them from a car parts store and seeing if they will let me rent the tools to do it myself because the price I was quoted sounds a little steep to me. Anybody ever replaced their own and should I buy MOOG brand from the parts store?

 

I think someone is pulling your leg. I figured you had a 99 dakota and I threw in the details of a 360, and 4 wheel drive just to see what the worst case scenario would be on prices. Parts alone are 243.96 plus tax and I rounded up to 250 that means he is charging you 600 bucks in labor...Sounds like a robbery to me. You can go to any Oreilly store and gets those MOOG suspension parts. And you know that he pays less than you for the same part....Sorry, it just really pisses me off when mechanics try to take people on this kind of work. I myself have not taken my vehicles in for anything other than getting new tires mounted/balanced and aligned, ever. Hope this info helps.


MOOG - Lower Ball Joint

Item No: K7267


$58.99 per Box [/align]


2 Per Vehicle


Limited lifetime warranty


MOOG - Upper Ball Joint

Item No: K7242


$62.99 per Box [/align]


2 Per Vehicle


Limited lifetime warranty



Sources:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/EW3/Produ...;currentPage=1

http://www.oreillyauto.com/EW3/Produ...;currentPage=1

 

Thanks Duke.

Worst case scenario I will buy the parts myself and install them, and if I can't do it Iwill take my truck to a stand aloneshop that I have taken other vehicles toforengine work and they are very fair. They mainly work on Ford's so they are always busy
I will alsowait to get my rig aligned until after the ball joints are done.
Thanks again for your input, it is much appreciated.

 

Not a porblem at all. I just didnt want to see you spend hard earned money on a scam. Take care.

 

Just wanted to speak a little on this thread. FYI, doing the ball joints yourself is not as easy as you think. Depending on year and transmission setup, the ball joints are either riveted or pressed into the upper and lower control arms. This means that if you do not have the equipment at your house to press them out or grind them out, you will have to remove both control arms, on both sides and take them to a shop to have them pressed or ground out. I just wanted to give you this info before you made the assumption that it wasn't too big of a job. If you have the right tools and the time, then go for it. I replaced the upper control arms and springs on mine when installing a suspension lift and it can take a while to complete the job....and I had all of the tools needed to do it...and didn't even remove the ball joints from the old arm, as I was replacing the entire upper cotrol arm. Would I say $850 is a little much? Yes. But keep in mind that I would be surprised if you found a shop to do it for less than $500 including parts. In my experience, I have seen many people pay in the range of $500-800 for replacing both the uppers and lowers on both sides. Another thing to keep in mind is that once they staart the job, they are going to tell you that you need to replace many other suspension components. Depending on transmission setup they will most likely tell you that you need to replace your tie rods, anti-sway bar, etc. You won't need to do these unless they are really falling apart, but I want you to realize that they aren't too much over the average for the work you are asking for.

Jesus, I just did a lot of typing there.

 

Ill back Virused on this one. I did all four of my ball joints myself. The top ones are riveted in and can be drilled out yourself, but the lowers are pressed in/out. That means the whole lower control arm is coming off most likely, and IM not sure about 2wd, but the 4wd was not fun. Then once all that is said and done, your still off to the shop for an alignment.

I wouldnt pay 800 to get it done, but then again I dont pay ANYONE to do work that I can do myself.

 

I wouldnt even attempt to do ball joints myself...dont have the equipment or the time, but I wouldnt pay over 500$ either. If I were you I would buy the MOOG ball joints myself and then have a shop install them, that way you know they arent screwing you on the price of the parts. Alot of places have a flat rate on labor so I would probably go that route.

 

Make sure you have them look up the number of hours it says for the job and give you their hourly rate. Do this at about 5-8 different shops (you can get this done over the phone). This will save you some green.

 

Thanks everybody, you guys kick a$$.
I will buy the parts and have another shop do it, I don't have the best selection of auto tools and I really don't want to screw anything up by messing around with it myself.

 

you can do it, but you'll need a manual, or a buddy, and a good bit of time and patience.

i recently did a brake job on my daughter's 2wd 4runner that evolved into all
4 ball joints and wheel bearings. i don't know anything about the dak. but
on her's the uppers were pressed in and the lowers bolted on. also the bearings
were pressed in. so i put it up on jack stands and got started. i needed to
remove the steering knuckle. autozone and advance will loan you all the special
tools, but i bought a small pitman arm puller for the tie rods and borrowed their
big 2 jaw puller for the upper control arm/upper ball joint separation. got everything
off ok.

took the knuckles to the local machine shop and bought moog parts. uppers about
$60 ea. lowers about $70 ea. timkin bearings about $70 ea. shop labor was $25
each to press the uppers, and $50 ea for the bearings, plus 3 trips to 2 different
toyota dealers for bearing seals, grease caps, (broken) snap ring, bearing retainer
nut (~$50).

went back together good. had it aligned $60. good result, but it was about a 3
or 4 day job, and i had a nice inside the garage place to work.

total cost of parts and machine shop labor and alignment was $660 with me doing
all the work. so my original $100 brake job ended up being about $750.