Mike I would like to thank you for your response. You have given me some
great advise. I talked me my mechanic and he will look at it and see what it
is. He thinks ball joint. He said cost for ball joint is $350, and he said
it would be a hard fix for me to do with my bad shoulders and the fact you
need a air chisel to remove the original.
> Mike I would like to thank you for your response. You have given me some
> great advise. I talked me my mechanic and he will look at it and see what it
> is. He thinks ball joint. He said cost for ball joint is $350, and he said
> it would be a hard fix for me to do with my bad shoulders and the fact you
> need a air chisel to remove the original.
Yeah - it's a bit of a workout. Not a killer, but the job does take some
grunting. $350 sounds high to me. One ball joint should be under $50 for
the part. I don't know what the book pays for a ball joint R&R, but I'm
having a bit of trouble with $350. Others who wrench for a living could
probably speak better to this. You might want to get a second price. This
is not a specialized repair so any shop should be able to handle it. Even
the likes of (dare I say it...) Pep Boys.

Signature
-Mike-
mmarlowREMOVE@alltel.net
Tim - 11 Jul 2006 21:34 GMT
I will call around for a price. However I will never let pep boys touch any
auto of mine.
>> Mike I would like to thank you for your response. You have given me some
>> great advise. I talked me my mechanic and he will look at it and see what
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> is not a specialized repair so any shop should be able to handle it. Even
> the likes of (dare I say it...) Pep Boys.
Tim - 14 Jul 2006 21:22 GMT
Mike you called it right. Both sides ball joints were bad. The mechanic told
me Jimmy's are known for this and many other problems. I called around and
got some other quotes. Started at $440 to $1200 for both sides upper and
lower. The shop I go like I said wanted $350. I have been told it should
have an alignment and others say no its not needed for ball joint
replacement.
>> Mike I would like to thank you for your response. You have given me some
>> great advise. I talked me my mechanic and he will look at it and see what
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> is not a specialized repair so any shop should be able to handle it. Even
> the likes of (dare I say it...) Pep Boys.
shiden_kai - 18 Jul 2006 00:21 GMT
> Mike you called it right. Both sides ball joints were bad. The
> mechanic told me Jimmy's are known for this and many other problems.
> I called around and got some other quotes. Started at $440 to $1200
> for both sides upper and lower. The shop I go like I said wanted
> $350. I have been told it should have an alignment and others say no
> its not needed for ball joint replacement.
Well, I hope that replacing the ball joints fixes your thump. One of
the main reasons that Jimmy's are "known for this" is that most shops
don't bother to read the manual and figure out what the allowable
specs are. You can have a lot of play in these ball joints before you
can condemn them. Like 1/8" up and down, 1/8" side to side.
Aftermarket shops love these vehicles.....as you can bring the customer
out and "show" them how sloppy the lower ball joints are. Problem is,
they are like that almost right from the factory.
And you should always do an alignment after replacing any front
suspension part. That's a no brainer!
Ian
Tim - 18 Jul 2006 02:38 GMT
I got the old parts and they needed to be replaced. Left side was really
bad. It did fix the thump problem.
>> Mike you called it right. Both sides ball joints were bad. The
>> mechanic told me Jimmy's are known for this and many other problems.
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> Ian