fair price for front end rebuild

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rigrunner

rigrunner

rigrunner
Joined
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ararat nc
the only place in town that will touch my 73 valiant quoted around 900 for total rebuild including alignment. all parts are moog. is this resonable or should i shop around a little out of town? thanks gotta be done in the next couple months. getting pretty shakey:poke:
 
rigrunner said:
the only place in town that will touch my 73 valiant quoted around 900 for total rebuild including alignment. all parts are moog. is this resonable or should i shop around a little out of town? thanks gotta be done in the next couple months. getting pretty shakey:poke:
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If all bushings, ball joints, pitman arm, and tie rod ends are being replaced with the moog parts it sounds fair to me.
 
rigrunner said:
the only place in town that will touch my 73 valiant quoted around 900 for total rebuild including alignment. all parts are moog. is this resonable or should i shop around a little out of town? thanks gotta be done in the next couple months. getting pretty shakey:poke:
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Do you have tools? I think the only special tool you need is a ball joint socket that is under $50.00 including shipping. That job is pretty easy and there are some great detailed threads on it right here on FABO.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
Do you have tools? I think the only special tool you need is a ball joint socket that is under $50.00 including shipping. That job is pretty easy and there are some great detailed threads on it right here on FABO.
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And a press for the bushings, probably a good full weekend project for a first timer. Still have to get it aligned.
 
zhandfull said:
And a press for the bushings, probably a good full weekend project for a first timer. Still have to get it aligned.
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There is also information on the threads on how people made a tool to press the bushings. It seemed like one was all thread, washers, nuts and a piece of exhaust pipe.

rigrunner, did they give you a written estimate so you know what all they are replacing?
 
For a full rebuild that is not bad, but you need to know what all they are replacing. A friend of mine (without calling me first) got raped for $1,800 for the front end rebuild on his old 71 Barracuda. I'd have done it for half that, actually for him I'd have done it for the price of parts.

Also, when I rebuild a front end I hot tank and bead blast all hard parts and remove the slop from the lower control arms. You probably won't get that from any shop for any price............
 
Too bad you are not closer to me, I'd do it for a lot less than that. But then, I don't have a shop to pay overhead on, etc. etc.
C
 
The problem is that by the time you buy all the parts, there isn't much left over for labor. Moog parts will cost the shop in the neighborhood of $500 for the complete front end kit. But, like I said earlier you need to look at what all they are replacing for that money. I do control arms for $50/pair plus parts. That includes the hot tank and bead blasting plus paint AND removing slop from the LCAs. It goes up from there for a complete rebuild and detail.
 
Wow that's cheap for a complete rebuild, I got a quote of 2,000 from Les Swab here on the west coast useing moog

Moe
 
supposed to be all parts. control arms, ball joints, tie rods ect. he said everything would be replaced. talked to another guy yesterday he said 250 to 300 for labor if i supply parts. thinking maybe get a kit from pst and let him do it. be a little cheaper. downside is hes very busy and will most likely take him a while to do it.
 
rigrunner said:
supposed to be all parts. control arms, ball joints, tie rods ect. he said everything would be replaced. talked to another guy yesterday he said 250 to 300 for labor if i supply parts. thinking maybe get a kit from pst and let him do it. be a little cheaper. downside is hes very busy and will most likely take him a while to do it.
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If you plan on keeping car for a long time I would recommend staying with moog parts if at all possible. But if your front end is unsafe and budget won't allow the best I'm sure the PST kit would be fine.
 
OLDFARTSDART said:
Wow that's cheap for a complete rebuild, I got a quote of 2,000 from Les Swab here on the west coast useing moog

Moe
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For $2k I'd be almost willing to come pick the car up and deliver it back to you....

For those of you who are being quoted these high prices, consider a control arm rebuild service and do the rest of the work yourself. Nothing else requires any special tools. You need to have some tools and some knowledge, but it's not that difficult. Shipping isn't all that high and I'll even clean, blast, and paint the other parts, too.
 
Jim Lusk said:
The problem is that by the time you buy all the parts, there isn't much left over for labor. Moog parts will cost the shop in the neighborhood of $500 for the complete front end kit. But, like I said earlier you need to look at what all they are replacing for that money. I do control arms for $50/pair plus parts. That includes the hot tank and bead blasting plus paint AND removing slop from the LCAs. It goes up from there for a complete rebuild and detail.
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Not to hi jack the thread, I'm getting ready to buy Moog parts for my 74 Dart Sport and the parts store quoted me just over 300 for parts. I told them I wanted everything including the pitman arm. Are they missing something here?
 
rigrunner said:
supposed to be all parts. control arms, ball joints, tie rods ect. he said everything would be replaced. talked to another guy yesterday he said 250 to 300 for labor if i supply parts. thinking maybe get a kit from pst and let him do it. be a little cheaper. downside is hes very busy and will most likely take him a while to do it.
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Go with Moog- a lot of those rebuild kit houses get parts from wherever is cheapest. Also, Moog parts that say "Problem Solver" or "Improved design" are not BS'ing you. Save your money elsewhere if need be, but do not skimp on the parts or the alignment when everything is installed. You will be disappointed if you do.
 
Badsport said:
Not to hi jack the thread, I'm getting ready to buy Moog parts for my 74 Dart Sport and the parts store quoted me just over 300 for parts. I told them I wanted everything including the pitman arm. Are they missing something here?
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73 up parts are cheaper than 72 back. $300 for everything is light on the price.

Lower ball joints $60 x 2 = $120.
Upper ball joints $25 x 2 = $50.
Tie Rod ends $20 x 4 = $80.
Upper Control Arm Bushings $37.
Lower Control Arm Bushings $16 x 2 = $32.
Pitman Arm Manual Steering $68. Power Steering $82.00
Idler Arm $53.
Lower Control Arm Bumper $10 x 2 = $20.
Upper Control Arm Bumper $8 x 2 = $16.

I rounded everything up to the nearest dollar and figured resusing the tie rod sleeves for these totals $476 with manual steering and $490 power steering. Prices don't include tax or strut rod bushings or anything else I forgot. Tie rod sleeves $21 x 2 = $42. These are retail prices and if you check www.rockauto.com you will be able to save some money. All compared parts are Moog.

Lower ball joints $37 x 2 = $74.
Upper ball joints $15 x 2 = $30.
Tie Rod ends $12 x 2 = $24.
Tie Rod ends $13 x2 $26
Upper Control Arm Bushings $23.
Lower Control Arm Bushings $11 x 2 = $22.
Pitman Arm Manual Steering $49. Power Steering $51.
Idler Arm $33.
Lower Control Arm Bumper $6 x 2 = $12.
Upper Control Arm Bumper $5 x 2 = $10.

I rounded everything up to the nearest dollar and figured resusing the tie rod sleeves for these totals $304 with manual steering and $306 power steering. Prices don't include shipping or strut rod bushings or anything else I forgot.
 
thanks folks. moneys not going to be and issue. im gonna wait for my tax return. think ill go ahead and use the shop thats going to use moog parts. anyone used pst dropped spindles? thinking of setting the front down a bit. wondering if they are worth the price or just turn down the torsion bars a bit before alignment. ive had the car for sale a while with no interest so im going to go ahead and fix the suspension and have it painted and just keep it.
 
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