Posted on 05/20/2010 11:18:45 AM PDT by library user
Hi, I have a question regarding ball joint replacement on a 1999 Bravada.
When I was driving home from work today, the upper ball joint on the front right side gave out and the tire caved inward.
The car is at the mechanic now and he said he would replace the two worn (upper) ball joints on the front wheels for $500.
But isn't it true that you should have BOTH the upper and lower repaired for each wheel that has an issue? In my case, the two front tires. So really it's a total of four ball joints for the two front tires.
For that he wants $900.
Isn't $900 too much considering we're only talking about the front of the car?
Can some auto-savy FReeper please clue me in on what they'd do and if these prices seem like a rip off to you?
Thanks a lot. And yes, I'm logged on. :P
I replaced everything last time...upper and lower also tie rod joints and bushings then got a wheel alignment. If one thing is worn out chances are other stuff is starting to fail. The tires will wear out a lot faster when any of these items get loose.
How much longer do you plan to keep it?
If you plan to dump it soon, do the minimum.
Otherwise, replace everything that is worn. If you do, you will probably notice the car will be a lot nicer to drive than it was, because it was degrading gradually so you didn’t really notice it happening.
The ball joints are $26/ea at Autozone (with a lifetime warranty).
Where are you? For $500, I will come replace all 4 of them. LOL.
Not an expert, but we just replaced the upper and lower ball joints in my husband’s 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 and total cost for the parts was $325 and I assume they would be a bit bigger than on a Bravada. Albeit, my husband did the labor himself. But $500 labor sounds a bit ridiculous, imo.
As for me, a 3-4000 pound machine carrying my family at 70 MPH is not something I scrimp on.
I was thinking $500 was sounding high for a domestic car, but didn’t know, so I was keeping my mouth shut.
I could do all 4 uppers on an Audi of that vintage for $300 in parts plus another $125 for a 4-wheel alignment, and typically domestic parts are *much* cheaper. I’m guessing stamped steel vs. cast aluminum has a lot to do with that in this comparison.
I don't think Accords have upper ball joints.
I just had Merchants Tire do an alignment on my plow for $150 - that was for the 3-year program, on a heavy truck. I replace the tie rods myself, but I don’t own an alignment rack.
But if you've been driving roads that beat the ball joints out of your car in 150k miles, then those busted ball joints are just the tip of the iceberg floating in your money pit.
Your greater problem is that if your ball joints were sufficiently worn to the point of failure while operating, then it's very likely that everything else in your steering/front suspension is probably also pretty well beaten to shit.
At best, all that slop will preclude ever getting a decent alignment after replacing your ball joints. At worst, you'll be back in a month when the Pittman arm, a CV joint, or a tie rod goes. Well, actually at worst, you'll be wrecked somewhere along the side of the road when something or other fails "at speed". Those components are somewhat critical.
At any rate, it's either going to nickle and dime (actually $50 & $100) you to death, one piece at a time - or you're going to pay a bunch of money to fix it all at once. Either way, at 150k miles, it's probably throwing good money after bad.
I'm sure you can find plenty of "mechanics" who will gladly let you pay them to slap expensive new parts on a cheap old car. The trick is finding one honest enough to tell you when you need to just fold it up and replace the car.
Most American cars are not designed to last more than about 100k miles before they really start to eat more than they're worth. NAPA guys gotta eat too..... ;<{)
All just my opinion of course.....
Buy the parts and surf up some instructions, then replace them yourself. Save your money for food and ammo.
>> my 8 vehicles
My, what an awesome carbon footprint you have! Does Al Gore know about this? :-)
Got a 2004 Mustang GT with the original clutch(drove my first stick in 1963)and 100,400 miles. Should I plan a drive from Southeastern PA to Tucson? (;>)
Hey, the guy might be a farmer or something...
Of course - just don’t plan to drive back.
Make sure you plot the addresses of every Ford dealer along the way into your Garmin before you leave......
It does however look like you just went out of warranty..... So take your checkbook as well.
IIRC, the Bravada is based on the S-10 platform.
Also, IIRC, the 4wd front suspension is completely different than the 2wd, both in terms of stronger components and different configuration (torsion bars on the 4wd and coil springs on the 2wd) to get around the mechanism for the 4wd (differentials, driveshafts, etc.)
My experience is with a 2000 Sierra (fullsize) 4wd. I have about the same mileage (and its a daily driver and tow rig) and I’ve replaced all four ball joints over the last five years and the first is up for replacement again. They were a royal PITA even with the specialized tools (one of which cost $200 and broke from the force).
So all that said, I would expect 4wd parts to be more expensive than 2wd, and I would expect the mechanic, if he’s had experience with these before, to quote high to cover his back if you still have the original components in there. He may end up barely breaking even if it takes longer than the time sheet and/or if he breaks one of his tools in the process.
Your Bravada is 11 years old. I don’t know where you live (but I do like your profile page, BTW). I live in snow/salt country, and that tends to fuse parts together over time.
I buy a lot of parts of www.rockauto.com. They carry ACDelco for about the cost of house brand Autozone. If your mechanic is amenable and you can wait a few days, maybe you can see if you can get the parts online cheaper. Of course, marking up parts may be part of his cost structure, or he may not trust you to not screw up the order, etc.
Best of luck.
I just replaced both the upper and lower ball joints on a 99 Grand Marque at the cost of $483.00. Check with Advance Auto Parts, Auto Zone or a Napa auto parts store ans ask who they recommend to do the work and what a reasonable price would be.
Money is just too hard to come by these days to blow an extra $400.00. And don’t just check with one of these. Check with all of them in person. $5.00 worth of gas beats $400.00 all day long.
>> Hey, the guy might be a farmer or something...
Don’t get me wrong, I ADMIRE his carbon footprint! Mine wants to be just like his when it grows up!
People are holding on to their vehicles longer, so mechanics are charging more for their services. Changing out ball joints are a pain in the rear... but with a pickle fork and a single jack, its pretty straight forward... only time. I recently brought my car in for front brakes to Les Schwab who previously charged $69.95. The charge was $425 for the same service. Either pay it or do it yourself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.