Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

The front-end shop says I need upper ball joints, which if I'm not mistaken require the complete upper a-arm. Is that right?
I don't doubt what the shop says, just forgot (possibly) the name of the parts I need to order.

I've noticed that the car tends to follow any irregularities in the road surface, which I had attributed to the tires, but am now wondering if maybe that is due to the ball joints. Anyone???

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

I'm sure you'll remember to get an alignment afterwards as well, to keep your baby pointing straight ahead and wearing the tires evenly ...

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

The front-end shop says I need upper ball joints, which if I'm not mistaken require the complete upper a-arm. Is that right?
I don't doubt what the shop says, just forgot (possibly) the name of the parts I need to order.

I've noticed that the car tends to follow any irregularities in the road surface, which I had attributed to the tires, but am now wondering if maybe that is due to the ball joints. Anyone???

Click to expand...

Hey Zeb, it sounds to me like it may need more than just ball joints, why don't you get a second opinion? I would hate for you to spend the cash on the upper control arms and alignment, then to find out later you have the same problem and needing more parts and another alignment.

BTW, get a 4 wheel alignment afterwards.

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

I just had both of the upper control arms replaced on my 93.

parts: $ 276 CDN
labour: $248 CDN
Alignment: $62 CDN

With tax (15%) $646.00 CDN

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

Hey Eddie,
What other parts do you think it might need? I would like to fix everything at once. I can buy parts at the local dealer at jobber's price, and the local brake and wheel shop will install fairly cheap for cash. They did my struts and the guy actually remembered to turn off the suspension before touching the car.
I get a little "clunking" up front when turning and hitting small bumps. Especially noticable on gravel roads.
It only slightly follows irregularities in the road, and I never noticed that until I got new tires. That's why I attributed it to the tires.

Thanks.

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

If you want to fix everything while your up under there, you may want to replace not only the upper control arms, but the stabilizer bar links, the strut rod(sometimes called the caster rod) bushings and maybe even the lower control arms($).

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

Brett,

Where did you get your upper control arms? Down here on the east coast, I am being quoted 200.56 plus HST for one!

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

I had the work done at Byma's Tire (Firestone) in Waterloo, Ontario.

Parts where from Parkway Ford in Waterloo, purchased through Byma's.

I was quoted a flat rate on all parts and labour, based on the 2002 labour rates.

I have all of my 4 cars serviced by Byma's and do get some reduced rates, but the cost on this was per the book except for a $70.00 CDN alignment that was reduced by $25.00 as an incentive to do both sides and not just the one side that really needed it. (I would have had to do a $70 alignment each time)

As a side note, LOD Ontario Canada Chapter is working with Fine Ford in Bolton, Ontario to offer a discount on parts similar to that offered to US members.

Keep up to date with the LOD Onartio site at:

http://mark8.org/ontario/

In a few weeks you should be able to order parts at a discount, if you are an LOD member.

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

Eddie didn't mention them in his reply to you Z, but he had in the past a pretty good deal on upper a arms/ball joints @ somewhere around $80 ea.

MN12 slls a kit of all the bushings made from polygraphite.

The klunking and bumping from front under slow drive and turn on uneven roads is likely front sway bar links, I got mine from NAPA, something like $46 ea. with garage discount.

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

I just had my pass side done yesterday,and it cost me 312 CDN. That was 200.56 for the part, 20 for shipping to get it here in a hurry (inspection was due, so I needed that) and one hour labour at 51.50, plus that glorious 15% tax.

I was having the exact same symptoms as Stephanie in her original post, clunking and following all the grooves in the road. That is now gone.

Getting back to the part, I went to carquest, where they quoted my 146 and change. The garage where I got the work done also bought that part from carquest. I asked them where they got it, surprise, it was carquest. My next question is, do you mark your parts up? Yeah, a little bit he said. Yeah, $54!!!!

RE: Upper A-arm/ ball joints?

I had all the ball joints,arms etc replaced at the L~M a few months ago...It cost around $1,600.They said it was all worn and needed to be replaced if I intended to keep the car; my 93 with 120K at the time.
If I purchased the parts from FPN ,I could have saved about $200,but the labor was $80 an hour....they may have socked it to me but if it goes another 100K miles I can handle that.






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