Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

Xtrempickup

Xtrempickup

All turbo All the time
My truck is an original 82k mile truck but its in NJ. It's not garaged for lack of having one. It needs a ball joint and my local mechanic wants to replace complete control arms rather than attempting to do the ball joint and align the truck. Also tells me its 1300$ with the alignment. Any opinions? I wna drive my truck some this summer.
 
atkonkler

atkonkler

Is this your bush?
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

Hmmmm....buy a coil over kit for a little bit more than that price....I wouldn't call that guy my mechanic at that price either. Those is stealership prices my friend. Good luck.
 
atomicmecha

atomicmecha

I hate rust
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

You can buy two new stock control arms that come with the ball joints, and all the tools needed including a jack and jackstand to swap the control arms and still have money left over for pizza and beer for $1300.

replacing the ball joints is not hard on these trucks. Just requires a drill and/or cutoff wheel. Or, replace the whole arm. New arms come with new ball joints and bushings. Upper arms are super easy to do but will most likely require an alignment. Any tire shop should know how to.

Lower arms are a bit more involved thanks to the torsion bars. You'll need a torsion bar tool (can rent one from advance auto or get one off ebay for $40). And the three tips I can give you is: 1) support the spindle with a jack, 2) torsion bar comes off with the old arm and goes on the new arm before installing the arm, 3) remember to count the number of turns on the keys. It'll save a lot of re-adjustments to get the right height back later.
 
ty166

ty166

Donating Member
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

Xtrempickup said:
My truck is an original 82k mile truck but its in NJ. It's not garaged for lack of having one. It needs a ball joint and my local mechanic wants to replace complete control arms rather than attempting to do the ball joint and align the truck. Also tells me its 1300$ with the alignment. Any opinions? I wna drive my truck some this summer.
Click to expand...

was he wearing a mask when he gave you that price ??? he is the exact type of person that gives mechanics a bad name...... you need to find a new place to take your truck...
 
Xtrempickup

Xtrempickup

All turbo All the time
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

I just need to do the ball joint and see how off the alignment is and find somebody to just bite the bullet and use some elbow grease to align it
 
D

Damian

Member
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

You can get tubular control arms with coilovers for that price!
 
Xtrempickup

Xtrempickup

All turbo All the time
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

I just want to drive my truck. I put brand new shocks in last May. That's when I got the 1300$ estimate for the rest of the work I needed
 
Priceless

Priceless

New member
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

Ball joints are a pain the first time. Drilling them out is so much fun. Les Schaub quoted me $1k to replace all 4 and do an alignment.

I said screw it, bought the ball joints myself and did all 4 in about 2 hours for under $100.
 
Stridan

Stridan

New member
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

a Northern truck that doesn't get to sleep in a garage.... how rusty is it underneath? He might be shooting you high just cause the job looks like a crusty PITA.
 
JSM

JSM

Active member
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

Changing the complete arm won't prevent an alignment anyways. Whoever you took it too has a big crack habit he is trying to get you to sponsor.

All 4 balljoints, Moog are $100 from Rockauto. 4" Angle grinder, and 2 hours and the work is done. $50 to local shop will align it.
 
Xtrempickup

Xtrempickup

All turbo All the time
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

He's expecting to have frozen parts to fight. The upper-control arms come with new balljoints, he could torch off the old one alignment Bolt and put new ones in and be done a lot faster and charge me by what the book says it could take time wise. are the ball joint press ins?
 
ty166

ty166

Donating Member
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

Xtrempickup said:
He's expecting to have frozen parts to fight. The upper-control arms come with new balljoints, he could torch off the old one alignment Bolt and put new ones in and be done a lot faster and charge me by what the book says it could take time wise. are the ball joint press ins?
Click to expand...

the ball joints are bolt in... the original ones were riveted in... I have been very lucky at gas axing the rivet heads of, air chisel the old ball joint off the remaining part of the rivet then chisel out whats left of the rivet.. I bet you replace the ball joints like every one suggest and get an alignment and you will be back on the road for 2 hundo.... guy is trying to get rich off you , but unfortunately it sound like he has you believing his bull shit....
 
Xtrempickup

Xtrempickup

All turbo All the time
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

Well I ordered upper and lower ball joints. A project this will be for sure. Guess I need a grinder also. Then hope somebody can align it afterward
 
atkonkler

atkonkler

Is this your bush?
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

Hey look at it this way it gives you the opportunity to buy a new tool to add to the collection if you don't have one already.
 
ty166

ty166

Donating Member
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

Xtrempickup said:
Well I ordered upper and lower ball joints. A project this will be for sure. Guess I need a grinder also. Then hope somebody can align it afterward
Click to expand...

cake walk, wait and see.
1. grind rivet head off, go deep, grind into the ball joint (on the upper, when you grind the rivet head on the lower you will be grinding towards the arm so be careful)to make sure the whole head is gone.
2. beat the ball joint off the old rivets (both upper and lower)
3. grind the middle section of the rivet off flush with the arm.
4. use a air chisel with a pointy bit and pop the rest of the rivet out of the arm..
5. bolt new ball joint in..
6. get alignment.

then sit back and realize how bad you ALMOST got took.....
 
dgoodhue

dgoodhue

BuSTeD 4.3
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

There is a chance that your ball joints have already been replaced, if they haven't been replace they are likely bad for a while. I first noticed mine were bad when I bought my Syclone with 42k miles. I initally thought that wasn't resting testing the. Properly but after do some research I found these truck eat ball joints.
 
S

Static

Member
Re: Bad ball joint. Rustbelt truck. Opinions

You might find other things while you're in there. At 120k I had a real bad lower so I ordered all 4. Found a hub bearing with a huge amount of play and the torsion bar mounts were almost completely broke. Check tour tie rod ends as well. Its worth doing now and not having any surprises later.
 
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