First off I'm new to this forum since I bought a 2000 Ram 1500 4x4 sport quad cab last night so if this is common knowledge or in a common place please be nice.

I took my truck to the mechanic today to have it checked out and the driver side upper ball joint is going bad (very small amount of movement but it is going bad) He said he will only put a specific type of ball joint on dodges (I think the name started with an M) because the regular ones from the auto parts store will wear out in 6months (not sure I believe that) Anyways he wants $580!!! I checked ball joins at autozone and they are $40 for each upper and lower so thats $160 in parts. Basically what I want to know is if $420 in labor is normal? That seems really expensive to me. Also will the ball joints from auto zone or advance or napa will wear out and have to be replaced again in 6months?

 

That labor sounds right. It should take about 2 hours per side.

 

Your mechanic charges $100 an hour? This is not at the dealership its at a mechanic shop.

 

We charge $110/hour for basic repair work, $140/hour for electrical, and $250+/hour for fabrication work. $100/hour is pretty average around here.

 

Wow that's pretty expensive. labor here is about $75 at the dealership and about $60 in a mechanic shop.

I think he was talking about Moog ball joints which are $102 each instead of $40 for the Duralast. Will the Duralast really wear out in 6months like he says they will?

 

Moog or nothing. I couldn't tell you about Chinalast because I've never used them. Moog is worth every penny.

 

Man he might be right about the ball joints from the auto parts stores.

I changed every part in my front end that had a grease fitting..

Now both of my upper ball joint boots are cracked and falling apart, movement is okay, but its crappy the boots are falling apart.

I did them myself, but I have a complex about Mechanics, I never like to pay anyone to do something I can do myself. I can't weld I can't paint and stink at alignments, cause I don't have the tool to do them, everything else I do myself..

You can rent the tools to do the balljoints from autozone..

Though I'll probably go with the Autozone Ball joints again, because they are inexpensve and they at least lasted a few years.. I changed them in '07..
I dunno, the Moog ones are highly revered.

 

I have moog in my truck, and they are indestructible. I put my truck through hell, always pulllin cars around on the crappy local streets. And I just inspected them when I did my lift, and they are great.

As for the labor rates, any good shop will be 60 to 100 an hour.

 

I'm pretty much the same way you are. I don't like to pay a mechanic for something I can do myself. I had him check it out because he has a lift and can get it in the air to really look at it. Plus I have never had/worked on one of these trucks before so I don't know much about it... YET

I'm not planning on going 4wheeling or anything like that with my truck. I bought it so that when I need a truck I have one.

 

Labor rate sounds about right. Around in the san francisco bay area, shop rates are about $110 an hour. When I did my ball joints, I used XRF ball joints. They come with a million mile warranty.