Hey guys, I took my 94 S15 for a wheel alignment on Saturday and while picking the truck up, the guy told me that the ball joints have play in them and won't hold the adjustments (I think he said that the camber is what's getting thrown off). Fortunately if I get the truck fixed within 30 days and bring it back to them, I'll get a 2nd alignment for free. My mechanic said that the labor will cost about $150-$200, I just gotta find the parts. So what should I get? Hopefully not too expensive, since I'm on a high school budget haha.

Oh and does off-roading hurt the alignment settings?

 

rockauto.com

I ordered all my ball joints from there. I think they were all under $35 shipped for 4. Its the labor that sucks. You need torches and an air hammer with a chizel attachment and a punch attachment. You chizel the rivet head off the top, heat up glowing red, then punch out rivit. Let cool and all the new ball joints bolt in. Assembly is 5x fast than reassembly for a ball joint on these cars.

Its really not a bad job for yourself assuming you have the tools mentioned above and atleast a 60 gallon compressor.

For $150-200 its worth it. Personally I woul;d save the money and do it myself but if you cant, thats not a bad price. It took me and my buddy 1.5 hours to strip the entire front end including ball joints, hubs, tie rods, shocks, etc. Fun stuff. Id say it took me about 5 min per ball joint to get out.

 

Chizel? That's a new one on me.

Moog or Napa Gold are some great ball joints or you can spend less and get lower quality. And, yes, offroading can wreak havoc on your alignment.

 

Its a 94 sure someone has been in there before all you need is a 36mm socket. A BFH and a asortment of wrenches and sockets. Air tools are nice but optional. Ive had good luck with oriellys master pros but they did say Moog right on them so i got pretty lucky on them. Sure there is a write up here some where on how to do it. Its not hard but you will get covered in grease.

 

Yeah the mechanic told me that labor was gonna be cheaper if the ball joints have been replaced before since the rivets get replaced with bolts. I called my grandpa (original owner of the Jimmy) and he said he had them replaced before. So that's why the labor is a bit cheaper than what you might expect.

 

Oh and I found a set of Duralast ball joints at the Autozone nearby me. The uppers cost $25 a pop and the lowers cost $31 a pop. I think that sounds decent. Rockauto.com was pretty similar in pricing.

 

Dont by durallast please dont make the mistake They wont last that long.
Get moog or napa ball joints

 

Rockauto's ball joints come in a professional and a service grade. I'm assuming the professional grade is a heavy duty joint and would take a lot more punishment. That's what I'm going to put in the Blazer and Sonoma's front ends when they get rebuilt next summer. They cost a little more but if they don't break it's worth the money.

 

Ball joints are parts you really don't want to "save" money on. Buy the best you can afford unless you really just like changing them out.

Also, I believe the Napa Golds and a couple of others come with a lifetime warranty. Something to really consider.

 

At the parts i go to they let me up grade parts if they brake so if i by the cheap ones when i take them back i can just pay the difference for the moog part. Ive been going to the same store so much they know me by first name, but still something you might wanna ask about.

Still changing parts over and over sux bad