outdoorfever

I can't figure this out whatsoever. 8A.M.took my truck in this morning to a friend mechanic because I had a rattle in the front end that I couldnt figure out what was and power steering fluid that was leaking from somewhere as well. I told him I think it is something simple and tell him the area of the problem.
Get a call from my dad at 11A.M. and they say that it's gonna be 2200 DOLLARS FOR FRONT END REPAIR They said everything is worn out(not sure what, I'm gonna find out) and then the labor was the worst part. The gear box or something was leaking the trans fluid. I was speachless. I have never heard of a repair that wasnt engine related, be this much. This is a lot of money. So now my dad is saying, well we gotta get rid of it.
If anything I say Screw it and for 2200 dollars put on a solid axle lol. He won't go for it though. I just can't believe the money figure that they threw at us. Anyways what does everyone think about a two thousand dollar front end repair? Sounds silly to me. I am gonna go talk to Jason and find out everything that was wrong with it and then post it back up. I can't get rid of this thing. I might just have to do the work myself if its mostly labor costs.

We'll see what happens. I'll post up all the part list or what not and see what everyone thinks about repair.

I aint gittin rid of her.

Have a great day.

Roadtripr

Try another mechanic and see what they say. Replacing the whole front end sounds excessive.
Btw, what year/gen/milage do you have

yotaman

Just to replace; 4 tid Rod Ends, Idler Arm and 4 Ball Joints is around $700.00 in Toyota OEM parts. Thats why I'm just going to SAS mine in the future. I've got another car to drive so I'm just putting the 4Runner on the back burner.

yotaman

Find out what he's replacing and what kind of parts he's using. I replaced tie rods, and my idler arm with ˟˟˟˟˟ AutoZone parts and they need replacing again.

SloPoke

Holy Freeholies Kyle!!!

Bring that thing to me and I'll go through it with ya. 2200 for stering parts and to fix a leak is obserd for a college boy in your position.

I'll do whatever I can fer ya man.

What kind of rattle?

lee

i believe kyle has a '90 4runner

outdoorfever

Ched you remember that rattle that I had Last September? The one where we messed with the screws in the fender wells and everything else?? Well it's still going on and I'm gettin ready to go pick it up. Thanks Ched for the help, I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. I'm gonna talk to my boss too. He is quite the shadetree...not sure who is better...oh wait.

and yes lee, I have a 90 toyota 4runner.

vmax84

Go get a beer and cool off!!!!!! Sometimes it's best to step back and relax, and let it stew a little. The answers will start coming.

vmax84

outdoorfever

lol vmax.

Here is the LIST: Idler Arm $133.3, Pitman Arm $77.08, Lower Balljoints $81.89(2), Front CV axles $129.51(2) and Power steering gearbox $436.74 .

The front cv's are definitely blown. Grease is all over. You can see the liquid running from the gearbox so that is correct as well. I cant check the balljoints or the others but I know there is a lot of play in the tires.

For the mechanic, all the parts ran 1000bucks. I figured I could find some of the things cheaper such as the cv's i think I could. I would have to find prices for the other things. The gearbox is gonna be hard to find cheap as well as the idler arm and pitman arms and balljoints.

Anybody have any input on this? Is this a home job? Ched?? It wasnt half as bad as I thought. All that stupid labor. It's still a lot of bucks but it wont be that bad. Gotta be happy, at least I have a vehicle!

Jared Ajlouny

thats way to much, you can get those steering boxs for cheap, look at marloin crawler, i think they even might sell them,....look around

yotaman

Idler arm: Get a Toyota one (can't remember cost just call and ask) and put it on yourself or buy the replacement bushings from Toyota and rebuild the one you have for $5.00 and an hour of your time. I’ll get you the part number if you want it. It's not hard to replace.

Pitman Arm: Same, get a Toyota one. It's easy to do also.

Ball joints: I haven’t performed this yet. From what I've seen it's not hard.

Power Steering Box: $75.00 out of a salvage yard (30 day warranty) or $275 from marlin for a rebuilt one (1 year warranty). Also not really hard to replace.

It took me all of about 3 hours (didn’t really keep track) to do everything listed except the ball joints and but I replaced inner and outer tie rods too. Remember you have to get an alignment after replacing all this.

I’ll answer any Q’s you have about replacing this stuff if you want to do it yourself. Give it a try you’ll save a lot of money and gain some experience.

outdoorfever

thanks for the info greg.

yotaman

No Problem!

JackMhigh

Just to let you know, every garage (Mr.Tire, Pep Boys, Midas, mis. gas stations) that by parts from where i work at, take our price and double it for their customers. So I'd watch out and shop around first.

AxleIke

Yes that's too much, and yes it's a home job.

If you are somewhat stock or even mildly modded front end, i'd go for yota parts, but that's just a personal preference thing, because yota parts are always superior to napa/autozone etc... parts.

If you are not stock by a lot, look into heavy duty options from various yota offroad parts vendors.

If you are trying to save money, a SAS might not be a good idea.

Fink

For the idler arm, I just got a 52 dollar one from AutoZone...its got a lifetime warranty on it...ANYTHING goes wrong and its replaced.

Fink

green91runner

each side of my front end took me about 30 min... although, i only did the lowers and the axles. just get a 2-prong puller (and a tap from a 5lb hammer), makes those balljoints pop out in less then a minute.

outdoorfever

i'd definitely need some good directions for this project lol

SloPoke

That rattle caused from the uneven wear on your tires?? Yah, I remember. Swapping tires was a quick fix but didn't correct the problem that caused it. Allignment! You never got one eh?
Remember when we were doin that I said that it can lead to bad joints and ate up wheel bearings? Looks like its taken its toll.

SloPoke

Yes, It's a home job. It's alot of work but it's all pretty straight forward. You sure the CV's are bad and need replacing or can they just use a repack and new boots? How far gone are they?

Definately call around on the parts and let me know what you can't find and need to get from the Stealership cause I have a wholesale account and can probably save you a bit more $$$ there as well.

BTW: Don't be expecting it to go real easy/quick. Specially with the maintenance schedule you follow.

Leme know