hello, my last few weeks have been a headache, and is partially to do with my blazer. its a 2004 LS 4x4 model, and it has some problems. most notably, the fuel guage is faulty, etc. but the real problem is that when I drive about 30+ MPH, it has a horrible shake/vibration. now I had to go on a 10 hour trip, so to figure out the shake, I brought it to a local tire shop and they said i needed new uppers and lowers for both sides. i said okay, but the price seemed a little steep, so I shopped around. went to another bigger tire place in town, and they told me that the ball joints were all FINE. BUT the pitman arm and the idler arm were bad, as well as the passenger inner tie-rod. SO I got them to change the pitman arm, and put a new set of tires on. the total was a little less than the other guys who were going to do the ball joints that were all "fine." so long story short, I go on the trip, and i keep thinking that the rumble was from the tie-rod end that had yet to be replaced, but i get about halfway and its getting worse. I start thinking that maybe the tires werent balanced properly etc. so i get to my destination, and I take the wheel off to change the tie-rod end myself, and low and behold, it's FINE. hmmm.... do the old "push the wheel in and out to check ball-joint trick" and it fails badly. lots of slop... so now i feel so pissed. i get a friend who is a HD mechanic, and he concretes my worries. "ball joints are definitely shot." so I phone the tire shop back, and I explain my frustrations, a couple curse words included. The guy on the phone explains that I would have to talk to the owner who wasnt in. but he also said that they only had their apprentice working at the time I came in so that is probably how it would have happened. so now I'm REALLY upset. I hung up the phone, and havent called back, but I really want to know what you guys think I should do. I wouldnt really care as much, if the parts that they looked over werent ball joints, but the fact that they knew i was going on a trip, and sold me a set of tires pisses me off. Obviously if I knew the ball joints were still bad I wouldnt have got the set of tires, but I had budgeted for the ball joints, so I thought I was actually saving money. The other thing, was that my girlfriend did the whole trip with me... It endangered her TOO! what do I do???

 

So you knew how to check for ball joint wear all along???
Grampa told me once, penny wise pound foolish
He only told me once!

 

I didnt know how to check them until I thought that maybe they didn't do their job correctly. then I looked up the way to roughly check.

 

Did the second shop tell you that you needed new tires or did you have them put on?
Secondly, don't let a mechanic con you into buying something that you don't really need and if all was bought fair and square, then there is really not much you can do unless the owner is a generous person.
And for crap pand giggles, when you get your tie-rods, ball joints and all fixed and it is still shaking and, as I recall you said rumbling, it could be your rear axle bearings going out.

 

thanks for the advice. yes, the owner of the second shop said "you need tires more than you need anything". so having just bought the vehicle, I could visibly see that the tires LOOKED in pretty worn shape. so I took his word for it. the thing that gets me, was that it was their incompetence, or more-so the apprentices incompetence. and so it falls on the owner, does it not?

 

The pitman arm is rarely the arm that wears out, its almost always the idler, but 95% of shops out there will tell you that they are both worn and that it is cheaper to do both at the same time(which really isnt true). I rode around with a bad idler arm and a bad upper BJ for a few thousand miles really wasnt that bad, but every shop I went to told me I needed both idler and pitman and both new upper bjs, when I went to change my BJs I noticed 1 was good 1 was bad I changed both though, and I changed my idler arm, steering all fixed. I have pretty good luck with firestone now if I bring it in to get aligned with my lifetime alignment they usually just tell me they couldnt align it perfect because something is bad.

 

A mechanic apprentice works under the direct supervision of the master mechanic. It is the responsibility of the master mechanic to train the apprentice.
So, I would say yes. The apprentice is basically in training and still learning so I would go to the master mechanic, owner or both.

 

but what would I say to them? you screwed me over? you put me and my girlfriend in danger? its not like their workmanship was defective, but their diagnosis was wrong.

 

Thanks for the reply. I dont know if the idler is bad, but i have bigger things to worry about now (ball joints) but changing the pitman did improve the steering play somewhat, though not totally.

 

Well the worst thing to do would be to call back or show up with hot head and a bad temper. All that will get you is nothing and take you nowhere. Just call them back explain what the problem is and what is going on with it like a level headed guy.

As stated above the pitman rarely goes out, but like all things it can go out.
I think your biggest steering issue might be somewhere in the line of ball joints, tie rods, idler arm and maybe your center/drag link (not sure about this one). But your ball joints, tie-rods and idler arm will improve steering drastically.

Whatever you do..,don't loose your composer. If you call up there with a hot head, again, the owner might have a second opinion and tell you to take a hike.