$1,600 worth of work???

[CJ the noisemaker]

So today I decided to have my truck checked out by a specialist at Les Schwab. After an hour and a half, they called me name...

And told me the very bad news, $1,600 worth:
1. The ball joints are toast.
2. Both brake rotors have hot spots.
3. The rear drums have a deep groove in them from running the shoes to the rivets.
4. The shocks are both gonners.
5. And the tires need to be replaced.

I have a feeing that the PO hated themselves, and the truck :,(

so can possibly save $1,000 by doing some of the work myself?

[TJDukit]

Asside from tires on that thing I would do all that work myself and save a bunch of money. But I will never pay a shop to do the work I can do myself for a quarter of the price.

[Gutter]

It's all straight forward, do it yourself!

[jaber]

Tires and ball joints are the hardest to do with out the proper tools. All the rest is easy for a shadetree mechanic. You might be able to rent a ball joint press from the Mcparts house, and if you have tire irons, they can be done also. Just put 1 to 1.5 cups of antifreeze in each tire as you mount them and all will be well.

[orangebike]

pretty easy....look in the vendor forum for tires...theres a place that does retreads really cheap...i am ordering 6 of them for my dually

[CJ the noisemaker]

Tires and ball joints are the hardest to do with out the proper tools. All the rest is easy for a shadetree mechanic. You might be able to rent a ball joint press from the Mcparts house, and if you have tire irons, they can be done also. Just put 1 to 1.5 cups of antifreeze in each tire as you mount them and all will be well.

The tires I will have done by... *cough*wal-mart*cough* and the rest is up to me. Plus, they are a set of wrangler ATs where one is on my truck already.

[DerekTJeep]

Of course, it is always great to save money if you have the ability to do the work yourself. If not, don't stop at one estimate. Find few estimates and see what you want to do.

That being said, I don't know that shop and don't know if that shop has the reputation of being expensive.

If you want cheap, I am sure someone on Craigslist will be willing to do it much, much cheaper.

[lodmccloud]

I am in the wrong business, I need to open a garage so I can quote some of these crazy prices. You can go to the local parts store and get all that for less than 600 over the counter. You can go to www.rockauto.com and get get it all shipped to your door for 512.54 all professional grade including brake pads and shoes all the way around. I used the 89410 zip It should not be much more then that. I do not know what size tires your run but I priced a set of 33X12.50x15 Goodyear wrangler MT for 192 a tire at the highest place in my local town. Even with that crazy tire price it is still over 300 dollars difference. If you go with the cheap OEM stuff it is less even more savings.

[CJ the noisemaker]

What about junk yard diving for the rotors, drums, and shocks? I'm pretty sure that the pads and ball joints are going to have to be bought from the store. Also, time to get the bearings packed!

When the time comes, I'll post pics in this topic. This is going to be fun!

[J300Zack]

Rotors are not going to do you any good from a junkyard. They rust up if your car sits outside without moving for a week with the new crap metal they are making them out of. I would say the same for drums too. As far as shocks, you might find some at the junkyard, but arent shocks only about $20 a piece anyway? I would just buy new.

[CJ the noisemaker]

Rotors are not going to do you any good from a junkyard. They rust up if your car sits outside without moving for a week with the new crap metal they are making them out of. I would say the same for drums too. As far as shocks, you might find some at the junkyard, but arent shocks only about $20 a piece anyway? I would just buy new.

Even if the rotors and drums were resurfaced? And they want to charge me $40 for front and rear shocks. PnP charges $5 per.

[CHICOWAGGY]

$1600 Isn't that bad of a price considering all the work that needs to be done, especally with tires. They also don't just slap a set of brake pads on they replace everything. Also through Les Schwab you get a warranty on the parts and labor and a road hazard warranty on the tires. (No I don't work for Les Schwab )

Having said that, I do prefer to do my own work and it does save you lots of money to do it your self. Especally the brakes and shocks. If you aren't comfortable doing the front end yourself, then I would get a couple of estimates and have someone else do it.

[j20brett]

What about junk yard diving for the rotors, drums, and shocks? I'm pretty sure that the pads and ball joints are going to have to be bought from the store. Also, time to get the bearings packed!

When the time comes, I'll post pics in this topic. This is going to be fun!

I dont quite understand what it means by the term "hot spots" on the rotors, but they can be turned (trued up) by the auto parts store for like $15 a piece. Shocks are cheap, buy new ones.

[CHICOWAGGY]

Don't get anything that wears out (shocks, rotors ) from the junk yard. That's why their in the junkyard.

[CHICOWAGGY]

I dont quite understand what it means by the term "hot spots" on the rotors, but they can be turned (trued up) by the auto parts store for like $15 a piece. Shocks are cheap, buy new ones.

"hot spots" are blueish colored areas of the rotors where they have been overheated.

Like brett says shocks run from $15-$50 each depending how you like your truck to ride and are really easy to put on youreself.