replacing ball joints

[therron4ou]

i gotta quote to replace my front drivers side ball joints, upper and lower, and tie rods... $475. is that a good deal or should i get more quotes?

[HummerJim]

That sounds just about right to me. My guess is about $275 for parts and $200 for labor.

[ROUSHDEMON]

wait... dont just get OEM Tierods, what tie rods are you getting???

Remember you got a lifted rig and oversized tires, OEM tierods are junk.

[therron4ou]

you know im not sure what kind of tie rods he quoted me. is there something specific i need to ask for?

[ROUSHDEMON]

Yes, Cognitos, Fabtech, Rareparts...etc... for the money and for the super heavy duty factor I went with RareParts:

http://dmaxstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23_173_137& products_id=227

They're just a tiny bit more than the Fabtechs but WAY stronger and thicker.

Email the owner Mike at miked@dmaxstore.com, he'll ship them to you in 2 days for you.

Check out this video too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRSjXnvas_8

[therron4ou]

thx roushdemon, ill check on em tomorrow and make sure theyre heavy duty

[seventwozero]

Originally Posted by therron4ou

thx roushdemon, ill check on em tomorrow and make sure theyre heavy duty

You probably won't be able to get them directly from the shop that is doing the work. Most of us ordered our tierods online then had someone install them or did the work themselves. My guess is the rods he quoted you on are direct OE replacements.

[HumminNBoatin']

I am with these guys 100% do not just replace it with a factory piece. The reality is your probably spending roughly $90 for the complete tie rod from a parts store anyway. Somewhere close to $60per ball joint if you go to the parts store yourself....

Here is the thing though... If all these parts are starting to fail on one side of the truck within weeks to months the stuff on the other side is going to start to fail too.

If you bring him the HD rods ur somewhere around $250-$300 for the pair, OE replacements are somewhere around $180/pair....

Do yourself a favor and replace ball joints and tie rods on both sides

And to answer your original question $475 is a pretty fair price for the work that was quoted.

I did my ball joints myself.....they are a PITA and it's hard work. Its dumb work....but hard work

[therron4ou]

I contacted the repair shop, who i have a pretty good relationship w/ the owner... he said he ordered heavy duty parts, hes not an actual gm repair shop. im replacing the front two tie rods and 3 of the 4 front ball joints. you think the 4th one will fail shortly?

[Scarsman]

I agree with HumminNBoatin'. If you are already doing three of them, just do all four. It will only be a matter of time till it goes too, and then you will be paying for an alignment again too. Do them all now and pay for one alignment.

[seventwozero]

Originally Posted by Scarsman

I agree with HumminNBoatin'. If you are already doing three of them, just do all four. It will only be a matter of time till it goes too, and then you will be paying for an alignment again too. Do them all now and pay for one alignment.

I'll 3rd that, why bother with 3 when he's already in there? Bite the bullet and get it all done at once. I'd also question the heavy duty tie rods he ordered, no offense to him at all, but just get an idea of what your paying for versus what you can be getting. There are a handfull of beefy rods for the 2 online but the Rare Parts are definatly one of the biggest available.

[Hummeron37s]

I say replace them all. I just did the balljoints and tierods on my H2. It cost me $50 for the 2 upper balljoints, $275 for GM OEM upper control arms, and $375 for rareparts tierods. I also changed the cvshaft and hubs because I have 139,000miles on my H2. The cv shaft cost me $100 each and the hubs were about the same. The shop charged me 4 hours at $90 a hour and $90 for an alignment.

[therron4ou]

hummer on 32s thx for takin the time to post that info and the pic. im really enjoyin this hummer family!

[Scarsman]

Originally Posted by therron4ou

hummer on 32s thx for takin the time to post that info and the pic. im really enjoyin this hummer family!

An H2 would look kind of funny on 32s, I think.

[ROUSHDEMON]

HA!!!

It would look somewhat like this

[HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ]

Hey Rousch that baby is really lifted and the white tires are really cool!

I do not even run my ride as hard as most of you Buds. I got some advice from an old wise H2 owner. He said if you off road allot or any other ways that can be harsh, what ever you change on one side change the same stuff on the other of rig. He said you'll more than pay for making the preventive replacements. For one thing you save on cost just by doing it while already having rig up on lift and taking up a stall.

TAZ