As much as I love my truck this month its been killing me, I already made a post about the $315 left wheel bearing that I put in now let me list what its in the shop for now!

I first took it in to get the left U-joint replaced and my mechanic found all this:
1. Left U-joint $15
2. Right U-joint $15
3. Both seals inside axle tubes to keep Diff. oil and axle oil apart $30
4. Left axle because the bad seal wore a grove in the axle that can't be fixed $550
5. Right wheel bearing $250
6. Upper and lower ball-joints, both sides $700 (Includes install, not getting that done now)

The installation will be horrible because they have to tear apart the entire frontend to get to the seals, and I know the guy isn't BSing me cause I went and saw all of the damage myself and priced it myself. I'll let ya'll know what the final cost is, hes a good friend of mine so he said he was going to give me a break, lets hope so![sm=hail.gif]

 

sounds about like what my truck got last month....

 

I just had my right front wheel bearing replaced on my 1999 Dodge Ram 2500HD 4x4 and it was $650 for parts and labor and they had it for about a week. It sucked.

 

Yep, I did the same on my truck at like 210,000 miles. Both front U-joints, all three axle seals. Axle seals alone were like $600+. No ball joints yet, but just waiting for that day to come.

 

Final cost: $1,226.66!!
Thats without getting the ball joints replaced, that can wait a while. If I hadn't had to get the bearing and new axle the U-joints and seals were only going to be $375, but I can't get luck that good, at least the guy only had it for 4 days.

 

What about doing the work yourself? if you have some jackstands and a ball joint press you can do your own ball joints. Buy a new axle from a parts store. U-joints are so easy to change. All you need is a little sledge and an anvil.

Paying for labor sucks. I try and do everything myself. I don't want some other person work on my vehicle for a week when I know I can do it all in a weekend.

 

PurdueRanger has the absolute right idea. I do most of my own work whenever possible (except of all things Fluid Changes. I dont have anywhere to put that stuff and don't like the mess)

Anyway, if you don't want to spend a fortune in tools, go to HarborFreight. Their tools are cheap, literally, but will save you a bundle over Sears not to mention SnapOn, Mac, and the others.

I own alot of Craftsman tools, only because I work on and own 2 different trucks. But for specialty tools (like a u-joint/ball joint press) I bought that at Harbor Freight. Something like $20 or some such. I've used it a bunch of times, no problems at all! Its a viable option over paying a shop 1200 bucks for something that costs maybe $100 in parts.

The cylinder head replacement I just did on my Ram cost $900 for the heads. I believe the actual cost to have it done would have been close to $2000. So I saved $1100 doing it myself. Adds up doesn't it?

 

Yeah if your not mechanically inclined you should not be driving a Dodge!
lol

 

I agree man do it yourself as much as you can and i work on other peoples cars for a living. Alot of the issue for is one of the pride of know i did it myself and knowing its done right. Having someone do it isn't a bad thing some people are just not good with thier hands. So IMO if you can do it take pride in what you can do.

 

and you can spend the saved bux on upgrade goodies like I did. Last May I installed R/T heads $1325, new timing chain $90 (could have gone with a cheeper one but this one was pretty good), 1.7 Crower roller rocker kit which included the guide plates and the rods $615... plus all of the dremel tools needed to mod my intake manifold. Now I have a screamin motor...