lower ball joints, a hub & bearing

[shermo]

2000 Ford Explorer XLS has clunking noise coming out of front end (passenger side?) while driving.

Took it to dealer (whince) to see what was wrong. They advised that it needs 2 lower ball joints, a hub & bearing. Along w/ rotating tires and alignment, this would cost $1,160.

Is it a common problem? The car is driven mostly short trips, has a moderately high amount of miles (64k, but 25k was first year and that was mostly highway miles) for a 2000 and rarely ever gets put into 4WD conditions except when it snows.

Is price high/low/etc?

Thanks

 

[JasonF]

Best thing to do is jack it up and see for yourself. Grab the wheel and rock it, if the play is between the rim and the steering knuckle, your wheel bearings are gone. If the play is between the knuckle and the suspension arms its your ball joints. I doubt its your wheel bearing, one of mine went at 115k miles and the other is just about ready to go at 120k. It sounds like they just want to sell you everything it could possibly be.

Jason

 

[stubborn1]

To answer your first question, yes - factory lower ball joints don't hold up very well on Explorers. Do a quick search on "lower ball joint" and see how many hits you get - its scary. I'm not so sure about the hub - I need to replace one of mine, but I have 125k miles on my X.

Look around for a good independant shop for a better price. I would guess you should be around the $700-800 range for the work you mentioned depending on the area. The parts are pretty minor - $40 ea for the ball joints and $200 for the hub assembly. Everything else is labor.

 

[OneShotBandit]

I just had both lower ball joints done. The cost was quoted from $535.00 to $336.00 (I took the lower as the mechanic is someone I know & trust)including alignment. I also had the wheel ass'ly chek'd (everything cool hub & bearings are one piece). The cost you were given is indeed a little out of line. Check around!

Virgil

 

[shermo]

Went to local mechanic today for 2nd opinion. He says upper & lower ball joints and tie rods are fine, and that the right front hub & bearing assembly is shot. He says the left side h&b assembly is ok but there's some play, and that he recommends having them both replaced. He said ford explorers have this problem often, even at 65k.

I'm going to tell him to replace the front right hub & bearing. He quoted $520 (approx $400 part, $120 labor). Since that's about 1/2 of what the dealer said, and I need it fixed soon, I'm going to have him repair it.

Any last comments to sway my decision?

Thanks

 

[shermo]

I asked the mechanic what was actually wrong with the hub & bearing assembly and he said that there was a LOT of play and that this (bearing?) assembly is factory sealed and therefore could not be adjusted.

Is that common for these assemblies, that they can not be adjusted? (it's a stock assembly in my 2000 exp xls)

 

[jared ajlouny]

nope, dumb ford.

 

[97BlackX5.0]

if you have any mechanical ability or tools the hub and bearing arn't too difficult to do yourself.... mostly you just take the tire off take the brakes off and the rotor... unplug the abs sensor... take off three or four nuts and hammer the old unit out... pop the new one in and reassemble.... you can probably get the part from an auto parts store for about half of that 400 bucks.... remember the mechanic is going to charge you list price not retail for what you could go and get it for.... at the very least go get the part yourself and take it too him... you might save about 150 bucks just doing that....

 

[shermo]

good advice. if I had known the steps beforehand, perhaps I would have jumped in, but the mechanics already made the repair. but I'll be ready when the left one goes!