hey whats up. name is leo. and i just purchased a red blazer with 101,000 miles for $1,000. so far the car seems fine except for some things.

i know i need an alignment due to uneven tire wear. so i went to sears to get new front tires (backs were in good shape) and the guy try selling me off by saying that if i had 2 different thread patterns (not tire size) that i will ruin my transmission in a short period of time. i called BS and said, "thats ok...i dont need my transmission anyways" HAHA. So he sid he'll just do the 2 front and alignment. so when i went back in to the shop to pick it up, he said they only had one of the tires and i needed to pick new tires. and that the alignment couldnt be down because it needed new u-joints....upper and lower ball joints on both sides.....and a pitman arm with skid plate. bring my total to $1,027.97 in the parts+labor+alignment. i am mechanically inclined (alittle), so i figured ide replace some of the parts to save money.

how can i check if i do really need to replace these parts?

Thanks

 

The U-joints are going to have nothing to do with your alignment, but as for the ball joints, you can jack the front end up and if you hae play when pushing on the top and bottom of the tire, then your ball joints are bad. They are a very common problem with these trucks. Hopefully they have been replaced in the past other wise the ball joints are rivited in and a shop is going to charge you more to take them out, because they are a huge pain in the ***. Inorder to get my ball joints out I need an air chisel and a large punch with a sledge hammer. Not fun, but now they are very simple to replace, because the new ones will just be bolts and nuts.

 

i dont beleive they have ever been replaced. i just did the wheel trick. and i do need a ball joint. when i moved the wheel side to side the lower ball joint moved. so i know i need that 1. and when i moved top bottom of wheel there was no play. but thhe upper ball joint looks upper ugly. so might just replace that one. do you think its cheaper to replace the whole upper control arm? for the upper ball joint.

 

NO. An upper control arm will be just as much work and expensive, and its very inexpensive if you do the balljoints your self. I think that for all four (which I recommend you do) its only 80 bucks. You should always repace your ball joints in sets, because for one you will already have the front end torn down, and also if one is bad chances are that the other one is close behind.

 

yea. thats what i was going to do. just replace all of them since im already down there. but i did check the front u-joint and there is alittle play in it. so i guess im going to have to replace that. so do you recommened me replacing the ball joints myself seeing as though they are bad. or is a shop going to need to do it because i wont be able to get them out?

 

welcome to the forum!!

 

thanks...

 

https://blazerforum.com/forum/showth...ge+ball+joints
I found this by typing in "How to change ball joints" in the search and it was the 4th thread down the list... hope it helps, and for future reference because you'll be reminded lol, the search button is your friend.

 

Welcome! from down under, good luck with the ball joints.
Any pics?

 

Welcome from another New Zealander.