Reasonable estimate for front-end work???

[91expogurl]

I just bought my '93 EB in June and my stepfather claims he checked everything out to make sure it was safe. I always knew something wasn't quite right with the front end because if I'd hit a pot-hole just right or take a left with a bump I would hear a 'clunk' (good ol' New England roads). After telling him this he proceeded to check it out saying that everything looked fine and greased my stabilizer arm bushings to prevent squeaking.

I began noticing the clunk a little more as the colder it got so I decided to take it to a local garage (a good friend of mine works at) and had them diagnose any problems and give me an estimate. An hour later, I found out I need all new balljoints, stabilizer links and most likely a front end alignment costing a grand total of about $775.

Is this a good price to pay to have this kind of work done or should I just have my stepfather do it for less money (no garage, Winter Storm Doreen droppin a few inches, and balls cold temps).

 

[EMG7895]

I think thats too much, I have a local place that I trust and does very good work, they charged me a little over 400 for ball joints axle ujoints and an alignment, I only had them do it because its so cold out and I cant fit it in my garage now. Where in ct are you, I might be able to recommend a place.

 

[ma96782]

Get a second opinion.

Aloha, Mark

 

[Jason94sport]

Yes, might just be your RA bushings.

 

[squeege]

I agree Jason, clunk noise is ra bushings and very common to your truck. Your ball joints arent really ball joints, they are like kingpins and really dont go bad unless your truck has been severely abused. Stabilizer bars dont make clunking noise, they only affect your steering. I would take a hard look at your ra bushings, I bet they are gone.

 

[91expogurl]

Yeah, I ended up not going with the garage, since I'm out of a job temporarily I really don't have that kind of money. My stepfather jacked my truck up today and told me that I was lucky I didn't lose a tire or worse--the ball joints are junk he said. So he's gonna order my parts tomorrow and work on it this coming weekend. I have my fingers crossed that he won't find anything else wrong, but I guess it'd be better to have that happen with everything apart and not have it back on the road to have to fix it again in a few days or so.
The price did sound a little too high to me too and with all honesty, I'm no expert as far as the mechanics work or cost.
I'll have him check out the other possibilities too while he's at it.
I appreciate your help--also for recommending the right balljoints & stuff (other threads I've read).

 

[EMG7895]

Check your asle u joints too while its apart, when they freeze up they can cause problems.

 

[91expogurl]

Ok, I'll make sure he does, thanks

 

[njguy_2000]

I had the same clunk with sharp turns of my wheel in reverse, it was the radius arm bushings for sure. $27ea. (parts only) at pep boy's fixed the issue.

 

[91expogurl]

Got my parts today

Well, my ma dukes was able to pick up my parts today on her way home from work. She said it wasn't the price that bothered her, it was the fact that she was in there (Autozone) for so long. She told me she'll be expecting a paycheck next week Not to mention that the people workin there probably knew less about cars than she did--which isn't much...(sorry ma)
Anyways, I got all four balljoints (upper & lower) and a couple other things for $150 roughly. Not bad not bad, a hell of a lot better than $750. I'm hopin that Duralast is a good brand, I told him about the ones you guys had recommended MOOG and SPICER (?) but I think he was going more along the lines of keeping my wallet from sparkin into flames.
I just figured I'd fill ya guys in on my excited-ness--can't wait until I get my freedom back and get out on them there roads. Not to mention away from the wheel of the family Hyundai Sonata "Jappa Scrappa"...damn I knew I love Fords for a reason!

 

[21robbie21]

I went to get an allignment after i did my TT and they said it was impossible and said that i had to get my lower control arm/lower ball joints and upper ball joint replaced , i didnt hear any clunk noises, but my car would pull to one side and after they told me and i looked the uneven wear on the front tires was very obvious, kauffman tire estimated 1100 and a local shop did it for 650 so i guess it all depends on where you are too. I hope everything works out

 

[91expogurl]

Well, I ended up doin quite the rounds this morning. I woke up put on crap clothes hoping that I'd be able to watch and possibly help my stepfather - I wanted to learn how to do things for myself. The minute I went outside, he goes, "you need to make a trip downtown" "alright, where to?" "Ford dealership".
I get down there and the parts guy was a complete idiot, I almost wanted to ask if he wanted to trade positions - seeing how I "seemed" to know a little more than he did. I needed 4 bolts - the ones that hold the spindle to the knuckle (hope I'm saying that right) and he had no clue...."where on the vehicle is this from?" Anyways, no luck there, said he didn't have them in stock, probably didn't have them anywhere in the state and that they may not even make them anymore. But what confused me a little, was that he was able to give me the Part #. It could just be me having a blonde moment, who knows.
SO...I went down to the local autoparts store, AVOIDING Autozone, no luck there either. It wasn't a real big deal that I couldn't replace them, just the threads were kinda beat on the originals.
After listening to me babble, I sure do hope that your local Ford parts - people are a little more knowledgeable than the ones in my neck of the woods. Out of curiousity, did they really stop producing such parts???

 

[inh]

Dunno, but if you have the part number, try a search at www.fastpartsnetwork.com and see if they have em

 

[DeRocha]

Here is a pic of a removed spindle. As you can see it is held in place by 5 nuts (but the actual weight of th car is on the spindle's lip which passes through the knuckle). A little trick to seat ball joints is to place them in the freezer a few hours before pressing them in place... The cold will shrink them a tiny bit allowing them to easily get pressed in... BTW if you or your uncle run into any problems post back and we can help you through it...

 

[91expogurl]

Almost as good as new

I'm back on the roads again--WATCH OUT!!! The only thing left to do is to get an alignment and I'm headin to the garage tomorrow to make the appointment.
I really appreciate all your help...I'm thankful I got bored one night and found the website, excellent money saver!

 

[J. Anthony]

My X clunks too, no big deal. 775, way too much money. I have actually just replaced everything I could replace on my front end and believe it or not when I put on the new beefier shocks a lot of the clunking and noises quit. Granted on of my shocks was so bad I collapsed it the other day and it still is collapsed. I don't know if my clunking is the same as yours but you may want to try to a few easy replacements first, like shocks and bushings. I put on some neo-prene bushing and that too helped elliminate noises. My X is old and runs on a farm daily and pulls horses so you can just imagine how much noise it makes. I have found my X to be easy to work on as well.

 

[91expogurl]

Clunking didn't quite disappear

Yeah so after all that jazz....I still have the clunk. You guys were right, I had a feeling though it was that cuz in my old one the same happened and once replaced - no noise. I've decided it's a definite to have the RA bushings replaced. It'll probably be within the next couple months after my wallet gains a little weight