Front End Rebuild

[Doss]

Hi All,

Needing to have my upper and lower control arms replaced due to ball joint failure. Will probably do inner and outer tie rods at the same time. I am just wondering what a fair price at a good mechanic in 2019 would be for this job. Let me know what you paid to have it done on your trucks. Don't have the time to do it myself right now. Thanks!

 

[black_demon69]

Probably somewhere around 800 to 900 $ depending on shop labor rates parts cost and alignment cost.
Keep in mind that this is just a guess

 

[Josh B]

Probably around 800 or 900 too much, would be my guess

 

[sgtsandman]

Why the tie rod ends? What does that have to do with bad ball joints? Did you trash the vehicle???

 

[Doss]

Why the tie rod ends? What does that have to do with bad ball joints? Did you trash the vehicle???

Um. Nope. Nothing is trashed it's just an old truck and tie rod bushings receive a lot of wear. They are also included with front end kits, so why wouldn't I just replace them while the front end is disassembled?

 

[88workcar]

I ordered a 10 piece kit from ebay, $89.00 I did do the install myself. It took a 1/2 morning and was quite easy. The alinement was $70.00. this was a few months ago, I have no issues. So under $200 for me. I can't see 7-800.00 in this job.

One note to you or the installer. The funky washers on the upper control arm bolts need to be thrown away and you simply put a normal round washer in it's place. This is to allow the alinement to be done.

 

[Dirtman]

Unless you plan on selling the truck I'd really recommend against the off brand chinese ebay/amazon kits. If your having the work done by a quality shop they wont accept those parts anyway.

 

[Doss]

Took the truck into a shop here in Fort Collins, CO today. They are saying they will be able to get the ball joints out of the original control arms. I was under the impression that those ball joints can't come out. Am I wrong? They also quoted me $1088 to replace all the ball joints. Thoughts?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Took the truck into a shop here in Fort Collins, CO today. They are saying they will be able to get the ball joints out of the original control arms. I was under the impression that those ball joints can't come out. Am I wrong? They also quoted me $1088 to replace all the ball joints. Thoughts?

Some aftermarket upper control arms have removable ball joints.

Something like that that requires an alignment... it is silly to not do TRE's too.

 

[Doss]

They are saying that the factory OEM control arms do... This is false, right? I am just worried that they are going to slap me with a huge bill when they find this out themselves.

 

[Dirtman]

Oem control arms are one piece, non serviceable ball joints. But, you have no way of knowing if they are oem control arms unless you bought the truck new. They might have been replaced before with aftermarket in which case the ball joints can be replaced easily. Any idiot mechanic can tell this with a glance without even taking a tire off.

 

[JohnnyO]

My Sport Trac is in the shop now, took it in for inspection, I knew a ball joint was bad, but it seems that the whole front end needs to be rebuilt. Basically everything that moves up and down needs to be replaced. I'm looking at around $1000.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I'm pretty sure the lower ball joints are replaceable on factory control arms.

If it's worn enough to need ball joints... do the tie rod ends also.

I would consider wheel bearings also... depending on mileage... and condition.

Align it up... drive it another 100k.

To have a reputable shop do these repairs... with good parts and a warranty... Near a thousand sounds close to right.