I've been told by my mechanic that my front end needs rebuilding. Tires are wearing prematurely on the inside edge. Normally I have money but no time, but right now I have more time than money, so I thought I could save some by doing it myself with my neighbors help.

Neither of us are mechanics but both of us are pretty handy. he is a welder/ machinist and we have lots of tools. Any help is appreciated!

Ps cool forum!

 

well if u got time go for it!!

2wd or 4wd?, will help us help u

 

Sounds like the ball joints if your camber is off (tire leaning in). Of course, wearing the inside edge could just mean a simple alignment.

What all does he mean by "needs rebuilding"?

 

That means: "I want to charge you as much money for as many parts as I can sell you (and the labor to install them....) to fix a problem that may, or may not... be as complicated as I make it out to be."

Go over your front end with a fine toothed comb. Check bearings, steering linkage, balljoints, ujoints (if you have them), and the track bar. (if you have that.....) Replace anything that has any slop to it.

 

Haha

I know he will charge lots of cash! I've been going there for years. He didn't make the adsesment due to tire wear, he put it up to look at it.

It's a 4x4, would ball joints mean using a press special tools etc?

I just want an idea if it's feasible to do it myself or not

 

Ball joints are pretty easy. Pull the calipers, rotors, hubs and axle shafts (remove these together, no need to remove the hub nut). Remove the ball joint nuts, and knock the knuckle off with a BFH. Rent a ball joint tool from your local auto store, it'll have all the needed adapters.

I'm sure there's many write-ups, do a search on here or Google.

 

Only thing you can't do in your driveway would be the alignment. The rest is just time consuming.