Well, the truck I bought the other day (95 F250 PSD) was in dire need of some new treads, so I got some generic Firestone highway tires. The shop told me my front end (ford ifs or ttb or whatever, it's not a true straight axle I don't believe) needs new ball joints and new tie rod ends. Then they told me it would cost $2300. I may be 19, mechanically disinclined, and a broke college kid, but geez! This can't be right.

 

You may want to get a second opinion ...Hard to believe everything is bad. If it were It should not cost that much .

 

That was my thought as well. Naturally after a 169000 miles things are worn, but the truck drives fine

 

Sounds like its time to buy a book, a few tools and learn how to turn a wrench. Owning older vehicles and not knowing how to at least do some of your own repairs is asking to get screwed.
I agree with getting a second opinion, there's no way that the truck should need a total front-end rebuild at that mileage. My 97 F250 4X4 is a beat up work truck with 242K on the clock and barely has any slack in the ball joints.

 

Yours is not a straight axle. Each side travels independently. The F350 has a solid axle.

But, both designs have almost the same exact wear items. Yours has two pivot bushings under the oil pan that the F350 doesn't have. Yours uses different tie rod pieces than the F350.

$2,300 sounds steep.

But the axle shafts have to be removed to replace the ball joints, which is a fair amount of shop time. Hopefully the price includes replacing the U joints (one in each side's drive axle) while the shafts are removed.

Replacing the front and rear bushings in the leaf springs could be included?

Replacing the little dog bone or pivot shackle at the front (or replacing its bushings) could be included?

Some seals will likely need to be replaced after inspection while the hubs are removed from the spindles. Maybe even a bearing or two.

All of the steering tire rod ends will cost about $200 in parts. And an alignment afterwards.

$2,300 minus about $800 in parts leaves about 3 days of shop labor. Which seems about right if they serviced everything. But I would get a detailed list of what is included in that price and have it sanity checked as I'm just ballpark estimating here...

Do you need all of this? Maybe not.

 

Actually the D50 TTB has three axle joints, one on the left outer, one on the right outer and one inboard of the slip yoke on the right. I know, my 97 F250 needs all three.
Even when you break it down to everything that the front-end could possibly need, I still can't see that estimate being accurate.

 

Good catch!! I removed my TTB and am working with fuzzy memory.

 

I bought this truck with that intent. Shoot me a link to such a book if you don't mind. I want to learn

 

You can get factory service manuals from eBay or amazon, but they might be a little too technical for a beginner. A Haynes or Chilton's manual might be an easier place to start.