Ive got an 00 jimmy 4x4 w/125k on it. Currently the front end is sounding a little scary. I had all ball joints and shocks replaced about 5k miles ago and it was good for a while, but now i am having some more issues.

here are my symptoms:
- rattle metal-on-metal sound when going over bumps. I think this is possibly due to control arm bushings? any other suggestions

- metal-on-metal thud/thump when turning/cutting the wheel at low speed. This is definitely a steering issue, not sure what though. It may be the tie rods, the grease boots are cracked and grease is oozing out.

I am just wondering what your guys opinions are on repair.
Would you re-build the whole front end at once rather than going piece by piece? It seems that repairing one worn out part only seems to make others wear faster. Also, to me it seems to make sense to just replace all the bushings once when everything is torn apart rather than tearing everything apart many times.

And it seems like buying a master bushing kit (like the one from energy suspension for $200) is cheaper than buying them separately from the autoparts store and they are better quality than OEM.
I would like to get a steering kit deal too, does anybody know of a good tie rod, idler, pitman kit out there (NOT low carbon steel made in China EBAY CRAP Tough!!)

 

I vote for all at once. It's much easier to do replace tie-rod ends and pitman and carrier arms with everything out of the way IMO.
But as far as a "kit" I haven't seen anything like that before.

 

Another vote for all at once, but only replace what is necessary. Inspect your control arm bushings. If they do not look cracked or otherwise deteriorated, i wouldn't worry too much about them. Ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman, and idler arms will likely be what is needed.

 

buy first line ball joints. but before anything else check your hood hinges. lift hood put rags under hinge arm shut hood 'hinges should be forced upward' take for a drive this may take away some metal to metal noise if so GM has conical spacers for the hinge pins.