So, I just recently bought new wheels and tires. Went to get a front end alignment today, and they told me that I need to get a new Track bar, and passenger side upper and lower ball joints. I was quoted about 900$ from the shop. What are my best options here? Put stock wheels and tires back on and just wait for a couple weeks or? Also how big of a job is it to do A trackbar, same for ball joints.

 

Trac bar is easy, and the ball joints are not too bad either. You can rent a bj press from an auto part store. Go to the FAQ/DIY page and download one of the free service manuals. read about the project and see if have the correct tools to do the job. There might be a DIY in there too. You can diy for a lot cheaper.

 

Why would you put the stock wheels on and wait a few weeks? What happens then? It's not a virus, the parts will still be shot. If you are going to sell it soon, get the cheapest parts and have it done. If you are keeping it, get either Spicer or XRF bjs and only a strong track bar like DT Profab. The track bar isn't too difficult but the stock one is really jammed in there good. You may need some big persuasion. I've never done ball joints because it is above my skill/tool access.

 

Maybe so he doesn't ruin or wear the new one's out meantime?

 

Exactly^

 

if you still have the stock wheels and tires mounted, and all you have to do is bolt them on - then you could do that to avoid wear.

but, if you had to spend any money to remount them, the tiny amount of tire wear would not be worth the money it would cost.

as zman said, track bar is easy. get the moog from rockauto.com with discount code posted in the faq/sticky. you don't even have to jack up the truck. you probably do need a pickle fork to separate the upper connection to the frame. if you don't have one, you can rent/borrow one from the parts store chains.

ball joint are a lot more work, but if you rent the press, and watch all the youtube videos, you can do it. get moogs from rockauto or xrf's and be done with it for life.

 

How much do you trust the alignment shop you took it to? If it's one of those mainstream ones (NTB, Monroe, etc), they're going to try to extort money out of you every time. An alignment isnt expensive, but the morons at some places like to make things out to be worse than they are to make extra money. All i'm saying is check for play/wear in the ball joints and track bar YOURSELF or get a second opinion.

 

I went over to Network Alignment and brakes. From what I know, they are only around in the phoenix.

 

If you plan to keep the truck a while, might want to look into a HD track bar setup. See the links below:

http://www.solidsteel.biz/datb.htm
http://www.solidsteel.biz/tbk.htm

 

Oh ok, I get it. It just read weird the first time. Those wheels and tires are sweet so I can understand why you would want to "save" them.

In my experience with this truck (12 years), I have never had an alignment shop get the actual alignment correct. One said these trucks CANNOT be aligned, one really f'ed it up, another tried three times with all the million dollar equipment and had it pulling so bad to the right, it wore my brand new Nittos very bad.

In the end, I researched and performed my own alignment and now it is perfect. I just did the old string and tape measure method. These trucks are really simple and easy to repair (compared to new designs.) I would crawl under yours and check all the parts they are "claiming" need replacement. It might not be as bad as they say.

My truck is not an Off-Road and I understand they are a bit harder on parts due to the lift on stock parts. My standard 1500's track bar lasted 85k and I'm still on original ball joints at 154k. If you need to replace anything, get the good parts like listed above, and do the alignment yourself. You have a sweet truck!