Dealership service quote, advice needed!

[Kegworth]

Hey all!

So I've been having fuel issues w my truck (88 XLT 2.9) and its not passing emissions, and instead of just goin in and replacing 25 things at random i figured i'd have the Ford dealer here scope it out. So while it was in there, i figured i'd also have them do a full assessment on the health of the vehicle, because the 4WD basically wasn't working either.

SO. After 3 weeks they got back to me with a list of everything gone awry and i know they're not pulling my chain first of all, cause it all adds up. However, what i'd like to get some input on, is what ya'll think i should have them do, vs what i should just do myself. I'll say, i'm very handy, and have done extensive work on literally all types of cars. So, i'm no noob. But just in case dropping the driveshafts and replacing u-joints is for some reason a crazy task that requires specialty tools, figured best to know now before I dive in.

Here's the breakdown of repairs:

- BOTH rear driveshaft u-joints are completely shot
- ONE front driveshaft U-Joint is totally shot
- Upper & Lower Ball Joints are rotted out

- Wheel bearings in front worn badly

- Front brake lines dry rotting
- Front Pads need replaced
- Rear drums need adjusted (they've been locking up)

- Fuel Selector VALVE is bad (its a dual tank Ranger)
- One fuel filter is clogged, one was changed, but previous owner i guess didn't know there are 2.

Tech is saying total cost for all this will be $4903.

Obviously, I'd never ever pay that. So I asked them to just look into addressing fuel system first so I can pass emissions. I'm considering eliminating the rear tank cause frankly i just don't need that much gas, truck only gets used for short trips hauling trips. So i asked if they don't bother with the fuel selector valve, and just inspect health of tank 1 (front), and replace fuel filter and do fuel induction service: Quote was $1127. Which also seems crazy, but i'm guessing its because they're tryna drop the tank and the labor involved in that adds up.

Can anyone give me any advice / thoughts on all this? Including the suspension work. Which I'm pretty certain is fairly straight forward.

Thank you!!

 

[Curious Hound]

I would be doing all of that myself and probably save $4500. Even if you buy ball joint tools and a nice set of jack stands and a floor jack you could save $4000 or more.

 

[Dirtman]

I'm in no way trying to make fun of you here. Owning an old vehicle like this is very expensive if you are not capable of working on it yourself. The truck itself is undoubtedly worth less than the price the dealer quoted you for repairs. Is it a fair price? Eh its pretty damn high but it is a dealership and they charge a premium for service. Alot of those prices probably reflect the age of the vehicle and them needing to work on rusted and seized up parts which adds a ton of time to the labor. Also the brake lines need to be hand made, you can't buy those so lots of time there. They also probably really don't want to work on it so they add a headache tax, dealers don't like old vehicles. A regular mechanic would be cheaper but still going to be considerably expensive.

If you have some experience working on cars there's really nothing on that list you can't do in your driveway and like @ericbphoto said, even with buying new tools to press the ball joints and u-joints, brake line flaring and bending tools, and parts you'll only spend a few hundred bucks for everything. You can usually even just rent the ball joint/U joint press tool.

 

[Kegworth]

Totally in agreement with ya'll. And like I said, I have lots of experience working on cars, both old and new. I just wanted to be sure about whether there was some crazy weird shiz I was gonna run into or not since I'm new to the Ranger game. Thanks for the feedback, always appreciated.

 

[Dirtman]

Rangers are generally really easy to work on. Nothing weird or exotic about them. Plus this site is full of tech info and smart people even if you do run into a snag I have no doubt someone here will be able to talk you through it.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Sounds about right. I cant believe you had the balls to take a 30 something year old truck to a dealership lol. Awesome.

Anyways, yea dealerships dont really work on old stuff, and new stuff is more replaced than repaired. I doubt they even have the tools to rebuild drum brakes, and a lathe to turn the drums. Modern rotors are tossed an replaced, they dont cut em anymore. Same with wheel bearings, they are sealed and non rebuildable. They usually dont rebuild engines or transmissions either, just replace em.

I agree with Eric, maybe take it on yourself. Some basic tools and youtube videos should get you through. Drum brakes are a PITA, but not rocket science.

Otherwise instead of the dealer, look for a specialty independent shop that works on older cars, or trucks. There's a lot of shops that specialize in stuff like this. Around here theres VW shops, euro shops, off road shops, classic car shops, performance shops, Diesel shops etc...you can tell by the sign or just what's parked outside. I would get to know one anyways if you are not going to be working on this truck yourself.

Definitely dont spend thousands of dollars on repairs, save that for mods. Cheers!

 

[rubydist]

If you have or are willing to buy a large C-clamp, you can do the u-joints yourself. Since you have decent mechanical skills, you can do the brakes yourself and the front wheel bearings while you are in there. The fuel filters tend to be a bit messy but you can do that yourself. The ball joints are a little harder and generally you will need to get an alignment after doing those, so you may want to spend the money on that.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

I gotta do my ball joints and not looking forward to it.

 

[MikeG]

Budget a thousand bucks in tools and parts, and I think that you would have this well in hand.

I'm surprised they even let it in the service bay.....

 

[ford4wd08]

What part of TN are you in and what dealer did you take it too??

 

[ecgreen]

In NH, they shake my tires and call it good.

 

[racsan]

I just bought a ball joint tool set from ebay this week for $60. Came today, already have the ball joints. Not doing it until spring though. alignment isnt all that hard, as long as the camber is ok, use a tape to set the toe, set it to 1/16th toe-in. you may need tie rod ends and other steering bits if the ball joints need replaced, aint hard but all the little things add up. Might not be able to do it all in one month, address your major issues first like steering & brakes. When your finnally done youll have a good vehicle that will be dependable and youll know firsthand whats been done.

 

[franklin2]

Harbor freight has the ball joint tool for $60 also. A regular c-clamp to remove u-joints sounds like the perfect way to get frustrated. Harbor freight has a little bench top press that would make that job easier for $84. I would also get one of these below. It really works great.

 

[Curious Hound]

Harbor freight has the ball joint tool for $60 also. A regular c-clamp to remove u-joints sounds like the perfect way to get frustrated. Harbor freight has a little bench top press that would make that job easier for $84. I would also get one of these below. It really works great.

That's a great tool for tie rod ends. This is what you need for ball joints.

 

[franklin2]

That's a great tool for tie rod ends. This is what you need for ball joints.

View attachment 53913

The above is only to press them out of the knuckle. The other tool will help bust them apart initially to be able to use the press above. Doing ball joints on one of these trucks is pretty involved and may be a little bit much for a beginner unless they watch a lot of you tube videos on it.