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Chime in if y'all agree and tell your experiences , good or bad.

I drive a 1995 Lincoln towncar with a 4.6L v8.

I recently had all 4 ball joints done. a few shops wanted between 600 to 1200 just to do the ball joints,well I found a shop willing to do them for 325 for all 4 and he laughed when I told him how much these other shops wanted and said that's why he stays so buisy taking all their business lol.

Then I found out I needed my wheel bearings done but some shops wanted 7-800,he wanted 275, I figured how hard could it be , lol@myself for thinking that.I rented a hub nut socket (36mm) and bought both frnt bearing assemblys and it really wasn't that hard at all just a pain in the ass to bust the hub nut loose cuz it calls for 260lbs of torque and I weigh 230 so it took me 30 minutes of bouncing on the breaker bar and spraying wd-40 to break it loose. Other than that it was rather easy and the parts only cost $102 so I saved a few hundred in labor.

Just thought I'd share this learning experience with y'all ;)

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5-700 sounds about right for 4 quality ball joints , including labor and alignment. 1200 is waaaaaayyyyyy too much( was that a stealership?) but on the other hand 325 is waaaaayyy too cheap IMO. I am not knocking your low dollar guy but I would be careful using the cheapest parts you can find, especially on a critical part like a ball joint.

I have been turning wrenches for 35 years and only use Moog ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arms, etc. I have never had an issue with them and I don't have to worry about them wearing out in a couple of years.

I just replaced the ball joints on my wife's Chevy TB, they were about 100 a piece (my cost) and it took me about four hours plus a trip across town to the alignment shop to at least get it checked. If she was a paying customer that would be at least a 700 dollar bill.

Wheel bearings ? Yes that's an easy job considering everything comes a part. I have had to use a torch to heat up those axle nuts before, to get them to break loose. Ford Tempos have been the worst about the nuts and axles seezing up in the wheel bearing assembly. Just make sure to get everything tight and clean going back together.

For shits and giggles here is an estimate from my shop on the wheel bearings.

R&R front wheel bearings 95 Lincoln Town

Labor

2 hours x $60 = $120

Parts

$52 X 2 =$104 X 40% = $145.60 x .07 sales tax = 155.79

Environmental/shop supplies

$10

TOTAL

$285.79

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Dam that's not a bad price, if u was by me I would have gladly payed you to do it and saved me a sore back lol. It was a nice learning experience tho, I've never done wheel bearings before but I used a torque wrench set between 250-260 and red thread lock for added security.

The shop was cheap on labor, only charged about 100 for labor and parts store quoted me right around 50 for each OEM ball joint (more for Moog:( so I figured I was getting a steel of a deal for 300+tax hit about 325.

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Also I'm far from an expert but I do enjoy working on my car, taking it apart and back together.Lack of proper tools keeps me from doing ALOT of my own work. I recently fixed my power steering pressure line and had to rent a pulley puller/pusher tool from autozone and got everything apart and found out I needed an 18mm wrench I didn't have. I used my dremmel tool and grinded lil byh lil on a old 17mm till it fit just right so I could finish the job lol.

We live to learn and learn more from mistakes than anything imo.

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Gotta remember those guys have overhead up the ass and also make a living doing that.

They need to make it worth their while.

I laugh when people tell me that door panels costing 375 finished is a lot.... If they knew the time and effort that goes into them then they would understand

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i had to get my front ball joints and tie rods done on my truck, 3600 bucks. they charge and arm and a leg for this shit, parts were maybe 500 if i baught online and did myself.

HOLY CRAP !!!!!!!!!! WHAT KIND OF TRUCK ?

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Gotta remember those guys have overhead up the ass and also make a living doing that.

They need to make it worth their while.

I laugh when people tell me that door panels costing 375 finished is a lot.... If they knew the time and effort that goes into them then they would understand

You stole my next post. One of these days I will do an extensive post on why shops charge what they charge. 90% of the folks just don't get it.

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They didn't do an alignment cuz my sway bar is a little loose and my tierod ends have too much play but he said everything else is good except for the wheel bearings and I just did them the other day so tierods and sway bar is next, then A frame bushings.Then alignment but alignment isn't bad off,it pulls to right so slight that I almost don't even notice at all, then I should be good. The cars 20yrs old and in the 6 years I've owned it I've replaced the motor, rebuilt the trany, all new brakes (rotors/calipers/pads), shocks, wheel bearings, balljoints, sway bar links, idler and pitman arms, alternator, under intake heater hose, egr pressure sensor, all new vacuum lines, heater core(guy messed up my blend door actuator so I gotta pull the whole dash out to fix that, which is not fun on a 95 TC) there may be a few odds and ends I'm missing, not counting major tune up and 2 new tires every year.I calculated every penny I've spent on repairs over the past six/seven years and it came to roughly around 12-13k. I'm still not done tho, I still need a few things then I can paint it tho the paint is excellent aside from a few tiny chips and the side moldings. I'm trying to keep it as luxurious yet stock as possible so most upgrades aside from rims and stereo will be factory extras.

Just to add to the shop price thing, I understand completely about it having to be worth it. I always say I don't mind paying a little bit more fore quality of work/parts and for them to stand by the work I.e. a warranty of some kind is always nice. I'd still rather do it myself if I'm able too tho.

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