Thread: D2 Front Ball joints

From memory:

brother had all 4 done(2 per side) a few years ago.
One side we did ourselves and I had to make up a tool to remove them. They can be a total PITA to remove if stuck hard.
Due to the difficulty we had to remove one of the two on the passenger side and snapping the bracketing I made to remove them, the drivers side he got done at my mechanic(mate).

To do the two balljoints he charged bro $250 in labour(about 4 hours all up).
Balljoints themselves are not overly expensive .. maximum would be $100 for Lemforder branded joints(I think less .. maybe Mario could provide a price). I can't remember what brother paid, but I know less than $100 each.

So lets say maximum $400 for all for joints, and maybe a few dollars for ancillary bits and pieces(eg. maybe new axle nuts and so forth .. I doubt this mechanic would need 20 hours or so to replace the balljoints!(ie. approx $2k in labour).

I would expect that the verbal $1000 quote could be considered kind of a fair price for a quality job.

if you can extract vehicle from this place and locate another mechanic .. maybe best option.
He may have changed the quote because he's not interested in doing it(ie. gouging!!)

AMV quoted recently, $750 for all 4.

I rang a couple of specialists when the price started to blow out and they suggested labour should be a max of about 1000.
I also supplied all the parts as the quoted 600 for the ball joints, I found them a little bit hard to get due to a few places having either no stock or only one size (upper and lower are different). I paid about 140 for them. Finally they have got it back together, just needs a wheel alignment and I can pick it up tomorrow afternoon

Originally Posted by simonmelb

AMV quoted recently, $750 for all 4.

That's about what All 4x4 in Newcastle quoted

Originally Posted by AK83

From memory:

brother had all 4 done(2 per side) a few years ago.
One side we did ourselves and I had to make up a tool to remove them. They can be a total PITA to remove if stuck hard.
Due to the difficulty we had to remove one of the two on the passenger side and snapping the bracketing I made to remove them, the drivers side he got done at my mechanic(mate).

To do the two balljoints he charged bro $250 in labour(about 4 hours all up).
Balljoints themselves are not overly expensive .. maximum would be $100 for Lemforder branded joints(I think less .. maybe Mario could provide a price). I can't remember what brother paid, but I know less than $100 each.

So lets say maximum $400 for all for joints, and maybe a few dollars for ancillary bits and pieces(eg. maybe new axle nuts and so forth .. I doubt this mechanic would need 20 hours or so to replace the balljoints!(ie. approx $2k in labour).

I would expect that the verbal $1000 quote could be considered kind of a fair price for a quality job.

if you can extract vehicle from this place and locate another mechanic .. maybe best option.
He may have changed the quote because he's not interested in doing it(ie. gouging!!)

Problem was they revised our when it was in bits and hard to get out to take elsewhere

I was quoted $750 by British parts at Wyong including ball Joints and with alignment extra a couple of years ago.
.
Regards PhilipA .

Originally Posted by mrs

Problem was they revised our when it was in bits and hard to get out to take elsewhere

Ask them for an itemised list of what's required.
If things look a bit dodgy maybe call the local auto repairs association that deals with mechanics
I don't know what you have in the NSW, but here in Vic we have our VACC, and they can be used to help control rogue mules that try to rip off customers.

I was watching one of the LRTV(maybe, can't recall exactly which vid) videos where he did balljoints on a D2. Anyhow, whichever video maker mentioned it a remark was made about the number of balljoint repairs that could be done to the D2's front axle.

So I chased this info to be sure, and for sure it's stated in RAVE .. up to three balljoint changes allowed(by LR) on any axle. Reason is that the diameter of the balljoint bores may become oversized so balljoints wont sit.
I highly doubt yours has had 3 balljoint changes tho. The axle is supposed to be marked with every change so the next mechanic knows it.

So the price hike could be due to some unforseen issue with the axle .. maybe damaged in some way. Get a list of what is needed, maybe get an independent inspection of you can.

If it were mine, I'd just get it out of there irrespective of whether the increase in cost is legitimate or not.