- Jan 22, 2014
- 359
Ok, so been doing a bit of repair/maintenance to the truck over the last few weekends. This past weekend I put on new outer tie rods, and got new tires as well. Got the tires from discount so I took it in to a local firestone place to get an alignment. I took it to this place because last august I was there to get an alignment and the mechanic told me not to bother until I replaced the tires, which I knew would need replacing after the winter anyways. Said he could do it, but would just be pissing the money away since I'd be doing it again later on. Ok, fast forward to today and his says I need new lower ball joints. Been trying to avoid putting too many miles on the truck prior to the alignment, even though I'm pretty sure I did a decent job with out tie rod ends.
So the guy from firestone quoted me something like $625 to do the ball joints and alignment.
Ok, so I told him I guess I needed to do the ball joints myself lol to try to save some money. Fair enough. Then I start searching around, and not as much info out there on doing this, or even the control arms as a whole. Even the info I find, it doesn't look like a job I want to do on jackstands in the garage.
So I call belle tire. They quote me $483. Sounds more reasonable to me. If I get it done this weekend I probably will have only driven about 500 miles on the new tires prior to the alignment, not ideal, but I really have no other choice.
Is this a reasonable price? Or can I do it myself for a decent amount cheaper? Or am I probably biting off more than I can chew if I try? So far I've been able to do quite a bit on my own, and everything has went fairly smoothly. The hardest things have been the front axles and drivers side diff seal, but as near as I can tell those had all been done in the past so I think thats why everything came apart so easily. I just have a bad feeling I'm going to spend $150 in parts only to take it in and have it done..and they likely won't use my parts.
Comments? Suggestions?
So the guy from firestone quoted me something like $625 to do the ball joints and alignment.
Ok, so I told him I guess I needed to do the ball joints myself lol to try to save some money. Fair enough. Then I start searching around, and not as much info out there on doing this, or even the control arms as a whole. Even the info I find, it doesn't look like a job I want to do on jackstands in the garage.
So I call belle tire. They quote me $483. Sounds more reasonable to me. If I get it done this weekend I probably will have only driven about 500 miles on the new tires prior to the alignment, not ideal, but I really have no other choice.
Is this a reasonable price? Or can I do it myself for a decent amount cheaper? Or am I probably biting off more than I can chew if I try? So far I've been able to do quite a bit on my own, and everything has went fairly smoothly. The hardest things have been the front axles and drivers side diff seal, but as near as I can tell those had all been done in the past so I think thats why everything came apart so easily. I just have a bad feeling I'm going to spend $150 in parts only to take it in and have it done..and they likely won't use my parts.
Comments? Suggestions?