so i took it in the get an alignment that my parents agreed to pay for because of my good grades. Im not an honor student so my 3.5 was pretty good and they didnt wanna see my new tires ruined as thye are already feathered. so anywasy i take it in for a $50 alignment. they call and say that they cant change it because my balljoints are bad. so i get there to pick it up and call around for some estimates. and i get a list.
upper/lower baljoints
trans fluid dirty
power stearing fluid dirty
airfilter dirty
marker light out
real axle seal leak
bad brakes

but what makes this all bad was i bought it two monthes ago and somehow it passed inspection with all of this wrong.

so i changed my oil (1000) miles late and look at my (2 month old) air filter and sure enough theres some oil residue so i change my oil airfilter and pcv valve and take it to the mechanic. everything parts and labor $900 all new brakes, new tranny fluid, power steering fluid, ball joints (upper/lower), alignment, real axle seal, new diff fluid, fuel filter. not bad at all i guess for all the work and it was all done in two days. now just to pay my parents back for fronting the money. sorry for the long rant just thought ide share that i finally had the ball joint issue everyone talks about. really makes me feel like a ranger owner now.

 

I guess thats not to bad of a price if they did all that work. I hope it all works out for you.

 

I say do as much as you can in your home garage and save you a few hundred bucks

 

Thats not a bad price. just tranny flush, brakes, and u-joints cost me over 600

 

Not a bad price at all, ball joints were replaced on mine for around $660 not including labour.

I had a few other things done, final bill was $1200.

All I can say is Fords bright idea of having the upper ball joint come with the a-arm, just stupid. Uppers were $225 each, and the lowers were $75. Talk about passing the lube!!!!

 

congrats on the grades (graduate/professional school are 80% about grades and standardized test scores)...sucks to hear all the work that needed to be done on the truck...

can you do any of it yourself? shop around and get other people to check it out?

 

well i couldve done the front brakes easily but since he had the wheels off to do the balljoints he didnt even charge me for labor and the back axle had to come out to replace a seal so he didnt charge me labor on those brakes either andhe didnt charge me at all for changing rear diff fluid or power steering fluid so im happy and i went muddin today after work so all in all it was a good day

 

deff. sounds like a dealer to me..lol
thats what i do all day. insp and tell people whats wrong. and hopefully sell stuff so i make money.