Is this the lower ball joint and is it supposed to look this way

[polar]

Skylark did you pump too much grease in? Yes that is how you check

 

[skylark]

Skylark did you pump too much grease in? Yes that is how you check

Without a doubt.

 

[brycebba]

Well son of a poop. I jacked up that tire and tried shaking it vertically and I noticed movement in the upper ball joint but not in the lower. It kind of felt like a wheel whose lug nuts weren't tight and would kind of clunk when you shake it back and forth.

The passenger tire didn't seem to have any movement.

My question now is whether it is best to do both tires or is it OK to do just the one side? Also, what is a fair price for the replacement of these things? My son will be born any day now so I need to be careful with money

 

[SkyHighColorado]

around here your looking at close to $400 for uppers and lowers all said and done.
You "should" always replace whatever is broken/worn out on both sides when it comes to the front end.

They are easy to replace if you have some mechanical skills. If you checked the other side and it has no play then I would go ahead and to the one side, but since its the driver side that is worn out I would replace the passenger side aswell because the passenger side always takes more abuse.

Come to think about it you might have a hard time getting a shop to just replace one side.

 

[brycebba]

Is that 400 per side? I'm fine replacing both sides if it's only 400 for both roughly. On my Dodge it was like 900 at any shop I called then the alignment on top of that

 

[SkyHighColorado]

yeah for both. I mean the parts comes to about $150 then the rest labor. mevotech are decently priced and seem well made. I had a set of mevotech upper a while back.

 

[brycebba]

Sweet! Something along those lines is a lot easier to swallow. Anything else I should do while I'm in there? I am fairly mechanically inclined but with the baby being an unknown I would hate to get into it and then have the job go unfinished in the driveway for a week

 

[east302]

around here your looking at close to $400 for uppers and lowers all said and done.

$400 is a really good deal.

When I had mine done a few months ago (98 K1500), parts were around $400 and another $500 or so for labor to replace both uppers and lowers.

Call around and see what shops will do it for. Ask what brand parts they are using...Moog is a good brand. I'd try to avoid the bottom-price cheapo parts.

 

[ChrisAU]

$400 is a really good deal.

When I had mine done a few months ago (98 K1500), parts were around $400 and another $500 or so for labor to replace both uppers and lowers.

Call around and see what shops will do it for. Ask what brand parts they are using...Moog is a good brand. I'd try to avoid the bottom-price cheapo parts.

You can get all new Moog parts for less than $150 shipped on RockAuto...

 

[98_k1500]

I don't personally care for moog, but thats a little closer to what i was thinking. Mine for the 2500 were like $38 each. They came from NAPA tho.