Hey all....so the truck in my sig basically needs a complete front end rebuild. Anything that can wear, is worn lol.

So I had my truck at the mechanic yesterday for a different reason, and he quoted me the following

Parts:
All tie-rods
Ball-joints
Inner-axle U-joints
Steering shock

So I guess basically everything but the wheel bearings and steering gear itself?

Total parts cost: $1300-1400

Labor: $8-900

Total parts and labor: $2200-2300

OK now I'd like y'all to chime in and tell me if this is about right or if it's waaay too much.
What bites is that I could probably do most of this myself with a Haynes manual and some time....the time is what is in short supply right now

Sorry for the epistle... What do you all think?

 

I would jack it up and check the front end my self, you just have to wiggle every thing to check for slop. make sure to try to pick up your tires to see if the ball joints are worn.
My 93 I swapped a 60 into doesn't have a steering shock, and if you don't 4-wheel very often you can run weak or bad u-joints on the front for a long time. They only turn when you have 4x4 locked in. unless the u-joints are rusted solid. then that can eat hubs out and cause a wobble.

 

Yeah I should do that. Truck drives nice down the road except for lots of play in the steering so I may just run it for awhile. I do know the inner axle ujoints are bad as there is visible slop when i wiggle the front tcase shaft.... but like you say I only need those in 4x4 which I don't use much

 

most the time the steering play it is the steering box, unless your try rods are really bad, if you keep driving with out checking it I suggest wearing your seat belt. Also I've run into some shops don't like doing alignment on old ball joints,

 

i did a complete front D-60 rebuild on my old 91 for the new owner in 05.
kingpins, wheel bearings, universals, gear set, tie rod ends, centerlink, and steering box .
parts only cost me $900, and it took me 3 days to do in my spare time.
i bet you could do all you need done on a saturday and sunday.

 

If you poke around, you can usually find linkage/ball joint kits on evilbay and the likes, like so: FORD F350 4X4 STEERING RACK ENDS CENTER LINK BALL JOINT
Not sure how quality is, but they are always around.
For U-joints, I suggest buying spicer life series joints, greaseable if you are meticulous about greasing them, non if you are anything but, they are much better sealed. SPL55-3X is the Dana part number for the sealed ones, -4x is greaseable and they are usually comparable in price to the aftermarket ones.
As for the steering shock, most of these trucks never had them, I personally would not bother.