Ball joints?

[wadu1]

My daughter has a 2001 Chev Blazer and has been told by her mechanic that the shocks and ball joints need replacing. I can do the shocks for her but I don't have the tools or experience replacing ball joints. They want $350 for the front shocks and $625 for the ball joints. Is the price quote for the ball joints a fair price? Thanks

[jackelope]

Assuming they're not double-dipping the ball joint labor and the shock labor, it's probably fair. If it's lower BJ's it's 2.9 hours labor plus alignment. At $120.00 per hour, which is probably average, that's $348.00 in labor. Figure $89.95 for alignment, then parts on top of that. I think, and I'm not at a Chevy service dept, but I think that the shocks should pretty much be no labor if you're doing the BJ's so do the BJ's and replace the shocks at which point you're just buying the parts anyway. I know there's a couple GM guys on here. Maybe coachcw or  dewandgin will chime in to verify my thoughts.
p.s. I know for sure that they go bad frequently.

[demontang]

Looks like they are charging time on both, the shocks are simple to do and you can save money or get some really nice ones for the price they are asking. The ball joints seem about right. I bought a tools to do ball joints and have save a lot of money over the years but you need to know how to do them.

[jackelope]

Alldata calls for 1.2 hours for the shocks.

[coachcw]

If you give me the specifics on the rig I will give you and exact quote for labor times and parts . be careful and get good ball joints the better brands are doublr the price in the 60 dollar range per but worth it . If its a 4wd the labor for upper and lower bjs is 4.0hr

[raydog]

If you give me the specifics on the rig I will give you and exact quote for labor times and parts . be careful and get good ball joints the better brands are doublr the price in the 60 dollar range per but worth it . If its a 4wd the labor for upper and lower bjs is 4.0hr

I got a 1997 4wd. Can't remember the exact time but it was way less than 4 hours.

[Woodchuck]

Ball Joint
Replace
Lower Ball Joint
Front Suspension
            
One Side
Does Not Include Alignment.
B   1.2   1.6
Both Sides
Does Not Include Alignment.
B   2.1   2.9
Upper Ball Joint
Front Suspension
            
One Side
Does Not Include Alignment.
B   0.8   1.1
Both Sides
Does Not Include Alignment.
B   1.3   1.9
  2.9 Plus .5 for each of the uppers, pretty close to 4...

[coachcw]

so the ball joints are $30.00.upper and $55.00 lower for a good joint , and shocks are 45-70 depending on quality . book time on Mitchell one is 4.0 for all . often we find they only need lowers which would be 2.9 hrs . in my shop I'd ad .5 hours to do the shocks so depending on what's needed you can figure $425.00 for lowers or 570.00 for all of them ad $140.00-$190.00 for the shocks depending on quality . so if he's around $600.00 for the ball joints he's pretty close as long as they arnt the cheap master ride brand . I hope that clarifies it for you.

[Buckmark]

These threads always crack me up

Two labor guides i have show upper both sides 1.9, lowers both sides 2.9 which is 4.8hrs
Shocks at 1.2 both sides.
You wont be removing the shocks to do the ball joints but since you are already there i would discount the labor for one of my customers on the shocks
These are also most likely still the original ball joints so removing the rivets is fun...
Like coach said, make sure they use or ask them to use the best ball joints avail..

Raydog, if you can do uppers and lowers with the rivets still in them at home in under 4hrs

[Woodchuck]

 

[coachcw]

If you give me the specifics on the rig I will give you and exact quote for labor times and parts . be careful and get good ball joints the better brands are doublr the price in the 60 dollar range per but worth it . If its a 4wd the labor for upper and lower bjs is 4.0hr

I got a 1997 4wd. Can't remember the exact time but it was way less than 4 hours.

book time on a 1997 s10 4x4 upper and lowers is 4.0 and a 2wd upper and lower is 2.8 hrs. most good techs will beat the four hours flat rate on this job but have a hoist and hi horse jack and a balljoint press and air hammer . in your drive way its all of four hours . if a guy can do these on a brake scooter and do a quality job in way under four hours come see me and I will give you a job.

[demontang]

I love these threads I remember when I worked in the shop and saw easy money on rigs. The chevy balljoint jobs seem to get handed down a lot.

[runamuk]

You can do shocks heck my mechanic sent me home to do shocks myself after being impressed by the 45 degree angle one of mine was sporting.  And I am just a girl.
  Ball joints I did an assist (stand around feeling useless, handing off tools, finding things and grabbing beer out of a cooler) on this many years ago on one of our many chevys I recall lots of cussing and lots of hours, we even had a chevy mechanic helping, ok so we used his garage and tools it still was really not a do it yerself kinda dealyo. 

[coachcw]

You can do shocks heck my mechanic sent me home to do shocks myself after being impressed by the 45 degree angle one of mine was sporting.  And I am just a girl.
  Ball joints I did an assist (stand around feeling useless, handing off tools, finding things and grabbing beer out of a cooler) on this many years ago on one of our many chevys I recall lots of cussing and lots of hours, we even had a chevy mechanic helping, ok so we used his garage and tools it still was really not a do it yerself kinda dealyo. 

Probably too much beer to early into the job Run !

[runamuk]

You can do shocks heck my mechanic sent me home to do shocks myself after being impressed by the 45 degree angle one of mine was sporting.  And I am just a girl.
  Ball joints I did an assist (stand around feeling useless, handing off tools, finding things and grabbing beer out of a cooler) on this many years ago on one of our many chevys I recall lots of cussing and lots of hours, we even had a chevy mechanic helping, ok so we used his garage and tools it still was really not a do it yerself kinda dealyo. 

Probably too much beer to early into the job Run !

could be correct I was a mighty expedient barmaid in my youth no one ever ran out of beer with me around. 

[coachcw]

I love your banner ! hows the tree doing ?

[raydog]

If you give me the specifics on the rig I will give you and exact quote for labor times and parts . be careful and get good ball joints the better brands are doublr the price in the 60 dollar range per but worth it . If its a 4wd the labor for upper and lower bjs is 4.0hr

I got a 1997 4wd. Can't remember the exact time but it was way less than 4 hours.

book time on a 1997 s10 4x4 upper and lowers is 4.0 and a 2wd upper and lower is 2.8 hrs. most good techs will beat the four hours flat rate on this job but have a hoist and hi horse jack and a balljoint press and air hammer . in your drive way its all of four hours . if a guy can do these on a brake scooter and do a quality job in way under four hours come see me and I will give you a job.

I missed the part about tools  in the OP. Air tools!