If You enjoy doing car things, then You may do it Yourself. It's kinda straightforward. Unless You don't like it and have a trusted shop that won't sell You all the axles with hubs & calipers all together

 

I have an appointment with the ONLY shop in our little town and everyone speaks highly of them. One of the reasons I want it done at a shop is, I don't want to get it partly done and then find out it's be on my capabilities. Then it would cost me a tow truck to get it to some who could do it.
Mel

 

The smaller the town is, the faster the rumor spreads. I am pretty sure they provide a good customer care then Good luck!

 

I am curious what the charge will be to replace a front hub/bearing; perhaps you will tell us??

 

I will let you know LannyL81
Mel

 

Well that was a shocker. I told the Mechanic I wanted the best hubs and bearings because I wanted to be able to count on the frontend to be very dependable. And i didn't want Chinese stuff. They replaced both sides. The labor was $228.00 and the parts was $516.00. He said there was a big difference between "Shade Tree" quality parts and good ones. So that little job cost me nearly half of what I paid for the Blazer.

 

I'm not sure what's reasonable or not, but $228 / $75 an hour (just guessing) is about 3 hours so that is fair. $258 a bearing each seems a bit high, but I wonder if he went to the dealer. Did he say what brand he used?

It probably would have taken me 2 hours or so. The SKF part on Rock Auto is $90 and that is about the best you can get aside from the Original Equipment part which is $190.

Rest assured, he would have used the "shade tree" stuff if you wouldn't have asked for the better parts. All mechanics do... There's a huge markup in retail, which is why I try to get everything online when I can. Most of the time, the best part you can get is still cheaper than the cheapest no name part at the local parts store.

My advice to you is to buy the stuff yourself next time. Make certain you buy the right things though or the guy may not want to do work for you in the future. If you are unsure of fitment, just ask the guys here and they'll show you the right direction. Take care.

 

dlundblad, I check with one of the three parts houses which are a 40 mile round trip from his shop, and the Moog hub assemblies are $230.96 each. I was a little shocked at the price of my bill until I thought about is a while. I think the 3 hour time was well within reason.. I'm sure he added a percentage of the parts cost for himself. I would never take parts I bought myself to a repair shop and ask them to install them.
One other thing was that he had to send his helper the parts store to pick up the parts which was a good 1 hour trip.
So after thinking about it I think the $744 was not so far out of line.
Mel

 

Yup, there are always pros and cons. You may do something Yourself, spend Your time to save some money. Or spend the money to save some time
If You choose workshop, You agree to participate into staff salary, tools, rent and other bills for energy, phone, not to mention taxes, social security and so on. It's not like the car guy takes it all for himself. They - on the other side have to keep a common sense, otherwise they loose clients and may shut down the business

 

Well the guy that done my work has been in business in the same shop for 20 plus years, and I didn't have to go buy some more tools that I would probably never use again.. I told him he got a virgin when he done my job, as it's the first time in my 77 years that I have had a mechanical repair done in a shop. My old body just don't like to bend down and under any more
Mel