Aight well I went by goodyear to get an all-out quote on "if" i was to get my front end redone.
I knew that labor was going to be high but heres what they quoted me. Labor is $47 per half hour? is that a normal price? Im not sure if I need to replace the lowers but I just cant afford this. any thoughts? ill prolly check out some other shops too.

LU cntrl arm $49.67
RU cntrl arm " "
LU ball joint $69.48
RU ball joint " "
LL ball joint $74.53
RL ball joint " "
alignment $79.95

parts = 387.36
labor = 625.15

 

Are your control arms bent or something? As far as labor goes, who are they kidding, you might as well go to a stealership for those rates. Explore ur options and ask around for a reputable mechanic. If you have any sort of mechanical nack (or not) I can tell you this is a pretty simple job, though a bit time consuming and will require the use of a torsion bar unloader tool for the lower control arm(s) replacement. Keep us informed...

 

Well around here that rate would be higher than dealers charge. If these were all good parts than the prices are ok. Control arms actually seem cheap.

 

Go with super lift UCAs if youre considering spending that kind of money..

 

nope nothing is bent its just that i need to replace the bushings thats it. i thought since everything was torn apart to go ahead and do it all. thats what the counter guy told me. with help from someone i could do this myself but i dont have the tools.

on a second note i have alot of play in my steering. its that a different problem than this?

 

Could be pitman/idler arms or tie rods. I'd do the front end rebuild and then see if you still have steering slop.

I still dunno about doing the UCAs...they're pretty beefy, so if they're not bent....

 

I rebuilt my entire front end 3 yrs ago. U/L Ball Joints, U/L Control arm bushings, Tie Rod Ends, New end links, New Torsion bar bushings. I did most of the work with the following exeptions. I removed the Upper control arms and had a shop press out and install the bushings. Had a shop do the lower control arm bushings removal and installation. (did not want to deal with the springs) You should be able to accomplish every thing else with hand tools. You can get the Ball joint press from Auto Zone for Free. Impact wrench would be needed for pressing out/in the lower ball joints.

 

ok im super busy with a new job so i really gotta plan out a day to work on this beotch. my control arms arent bent so maybe ill just stick with them. my bro works for hummer and i had him take the blaze in to look at it. he said the pitman arms and idler arms need to be replaced. i guess ill just add that to the list.

 

see if your brother can do it at his job or maybe even help you do it..save sum $$$$

 

The pitman arm would be the hardest part of this to change, one of the bolts is torqued to an extreme torque.