front end

[509lifted]

ok guys since not only will i be driving to arizona for my move i will be towing a little utility trailer to haul/live out of till i find a job i figured i would get my front end fixed, and by fixed i mean bearings/balljoints/ tie rods and all the stuff that shops do when you get your front end done. Les shwab was quoting me 1k to get it done and during summer it was 600 but i guess they hike up their hourly charge by 50 for winter, so i was wondering how much i should be looking at paying, and if adsm comes along he might know exactly what gets done as i lost the quote sheet with everything on it.

 

[westonmt]

I paid roughly $1100 for the dealer to replace the upper (with A arm)/lower ball joints, tie rod ends,hub bearing assemblies, and an alignment a little over a year ago. Louisiana roads are horrible by the way... Probably could have gotten it done cheaper at a private garage but at the time I was new to the area and hadn't had time to research the businesses here...

 

[doorgunner]

509......I'd sure like you to do it yourself if you feel capable.....you'd save enough money to pay for gas all the way to Arizona.....

I always use the Tech Library/and go to the local Library to print out the pages out of the Ford repair manuals when I do something that I've never done before.......

 

[Rodney Colvin]

I'd just do it myself, you will have to get it professionally aligned though. I replaced alot of front end parts at the end of this summer, there not too hard once you figure out what your doing.

 

[509lifted]

doorgunner i would love to do it but i borrowed the tool to press the ball joints and couldnt even get them out plus it is 25-35 everyday with snow pack on the ground so it would be a long slow process and since i have a call into the local radio station to get calls for odd jobs i need my truck on a moments notice and dont have time for my truck to be down for a minimum of 2 weeks so when i save up money which will probably be 2-3 months im just gonna take it to a shop that can get it done in a few days

 

[det107]

I'd just do it myself, you will have to get it professionally aligned though. I replaced alot of front end parts at the end of this summer, there not too hard once you figure out what your doing.

Exactly this. I got my parts from Rockauto & with help of a friend and his shop tools-

 

[4.0B2]

do it one piece at a time and be ready to throw the tire back on and go for it...

granted if you do tie rod ends, you'll need an alignment to make sure you won't be messing up your tires..

for a shop, yeah... you're looking at 900-1300ish unless you a good ole boy garage that is cheaper.

 

[509lifted]

4.0 would i be able to get away with just ball joints and tie rods, i took it to les shuab but when they do something they wanna do everything so im not sure i mean i know my ball joints are bad and then when my passenger side tire is straight forward my drivers side tire is turned out about an inch or 2

 

[PanamaExpat]

Lifted... I presume you have a TTB. Ball joints are one thing but if your front wheels are that far out it sounds far worse. Did you look at your pivot and radius arm bushings? If your ball joints are truly that far gone I would feel unsafe driving the vehicle. How loose are the tie rod ends? What kind of tire wear patterns are you getting? Does it wander all over the road? Got photos?

The reason I ask all these questions is none of us old timers would want to see a man as young as you shed some front suspension parts and possibly ending up in a nasty crack up. Maybe we can help pick and choose what you need to replace to make your ride safe and save you a few bucks in the process.

 

[509lifted]

i fixed my ra bushings and went to get it allined cause it caused my tire to do that and they told me i need new ball joints but since its a certified place they wont do just ball joints they will do hubs tie rod ball joints bearings and all that. Panama so far i have drove 1k miles with it like that and two trips were 330 miles over a pass and back both times lol

 

[PanamaExpat]

All I can say is that: ''The enormity of ones testicles decreases immensely with age.'' LOL. I was fearless at one time also.

Well... Don't you know anyone with a nice dry, warm, and well equipped garage that would be willing to let you use it for 2 days?

I just looked at RockAuto and even if you buy their best ball joints all four are less than $40. You will want to service your wheel bearings while you are in there and replace a few seals. The seals on the back of the steering knuckles tend to go bad and they are about $8 each from a bearing shop and those are SKS.

If you were not so far away I would tell you to bring it over and we would drop the whole front axle and go through it. But getting here would be a whole lot harder than your trip to AZ.

 

[509lifted]

yea thats a no go on a garage hell not even a cold dry one but i do have the ball joints already since i tried to do them myself i just don't feel cabable cause i couldn't get them apart the first time

 

[doorgunner]

Maybe you could find a shop that would do the worst side first (driver or passenger side)........tell them you need your truck for call-outs so they will know that they need to get it done in a couple hours....make sure nthey order the parts so they'll have them when you bring the truck in...tell them you need to stay & wait for the truck so they will definately get one side done....then you'll have time to save money to get the other side done.....

 

[70roadrunner]

it may be cheaper and easier to get a complete front end from a junk yard

 

[4.0B2]

it may be cheaper and easier to get a complete front end from a junk yard

if you trust junkyard parts for something like steering and ball joints