I have put several posts about my 99 jimmy.There has been a ongoing grinding noise and vibrations from rear passenger tire.Well finally found out it needed the axle and axle bearing/ Seal.Now it has a 3:42 gear ratio and was told there were 3 different axles for it starting from $170-$300.I was told the one I need costs $273.Now are these axles actually this much ?or am I being ripped off?Putting out $550 for labor and parts I am concerned .Had I looked sooner I could have gotten the complete rear end with 1 year warranty for $553 and plus labor about $300.Next time if it happens its the way I am going.I never took the jimmy off road 1 time and have replaced the upper/lower ball joints 4 months ago with the upper control arms.Rear shackles and now this.I like my jimmy but this was a poor was design by General Motors cause this all is a regular issue .This was second time the ball joints were replaced other owner did that.And the drivers side cv shaft replaced.(Why do these blazers go through so many of these?Also I replaced both front wheel bearings.Maybe I should have done both rear axles also as I did the front bearings.I paid $600 for the truck and put in $1,650 so far so yeah about got a new one..Sorry for the long message but input would be nice and Hear why these ball joints and bearing go so many miles.

 

For reference, I just had a pair of custom 4130 axles made for my 14-bolt full-floater (1-ton truck rear end) and I paid $395. But OEM stuff, which I assume your mechanic is using, is pretty expensive.

 

yeah the one he ordered wasn't right so he got another which we both didn't know the axle came with everything.The one I needed came to $300 so guess that's about right.He checked the other side and said it was tight so hope it holds up awhile..You would think the drivers side would go first since it gets all the beating .I have put in $1600 into in 10 months and why?I like my s10 and it's in great condition .Wear and tear happens and I have no issue replacing these items just as ling as my tranny and engine hild up and there both maintained.Oil changed regularly and new kilter and granny fluid changed when needed..It seems to be running rich now and my code reader shows 2 O2 sensors are bad so hope that's the issue.Everything else shows fine on the scanner.Do you feel while sitting at a red light and it starts like running rich and ready to stall that the O2 would do this?When I rev it up it clears up.