Is this a reasonable estimate on replacing ball joints on a 99 dodge Dakota 2WD

austin_wsr

New member
and should I do it myself? Ok, got four new tires the other day and asked for an alignment, they said I needed new ball joints and that if I wanted them to do it, it would be another 808 dollars. This is Pepboys by the way. Now, I love doing things myself and its usually a much cheaper option, but I've never done anything with ball joints before and I think its rather involved. I'm willing to try anything myself, however, and actually enjoy the challenge.

My real questions are:

1) Is this estimate reasonable? I have used pepboys in the past and have no problems with them but you never know.(I'm in Central Florida by the way)

2) Is this something I should do myself? If I had a thirty thousand dollar car i wouldn't think twice about letting experts do it, but the truck itself is only worth a few thousand and its hard for me to justify spending that much if I could save some doing it myself.

3) Just how dificult is it to do, what kinds of special tools would I need. I'm pretty capable and my father is even more so, but we are far from experts.

4) How much do ball joints cost? At advanceauto the OE are around thirty but I'm seeing them all the way up to 70 or above. Basically what would my total cost be just for parts.

--I'm not sure if there are upper and lower and what not but assume I need everything replaced.
 

Danny

Member
have you ccheck the ball jionts for wear/ they may have been wanting to jack up the repair. 800 is the normal to pay and 30 is the right price for the parts. many auto parts store will loan you the tools to do the job. very easy to do. just a lot of parts to remove first. go to alldata or autozone .com for more advice
 
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