Hi all!

I am a camaro driver in Rhode Island. I recently bought my 1986 Z28, and brought it in for an inspection. It needs the following components to pass:

• Outer and Inner Tie Rods (And "adjusting sleeves")
• Center Drag Link
• Idler Arm
• 2 Lower Ball Joints

I currently have a haynes manual, and suspension experience (springs, struts, and shocks) with a 97 Jetta VR6, and a 1995 Saab 900s. I know these tasks are a little more in depth than struts, springs and shocks, but I was wondering where I could find the best deal on those components, and which replacements I can perform myself safely. I was quoted over $1000 for the parts and labor, and I was trying to save myself some of that (to put into the exhaust, I'm hoping!) Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

Paul Kamp

 

Welcome to TGO Paul!

You can shop online at NAPA, Auto Zone, Schucks, and others to fidn the best price on parts. I got my lower ball joints at the "Zone" for around $17 each. They were american made parts. So shop around for parts and see what the manufacture's name on the part is and compare prices. As I recall there are a couple of people here that just finished front end rebuilds and will probably give you their $.02 worth of advise.

Auto Zone also has a "loan a tool" program where you pay for the spring compressor and tie rod and ball joint seperator forks, and ball joint press, but after you are done with them (and don't destroy them) you take them back and get a full refund. I think Shucks also does this, but am not completely sure. I like Auto zone because there is a cute blonde at the store I go to, and there aren't any at the Schuck's store near me

So if you have some experience and some basic tools along with a good jack and SAFE jack stands, you should be in this for $200 to $300 or so. Might be a little less, but it certainly won't be $1000. But remember, that coil spring has a lot of force behind it, so be carefull whenever dealing with a large spring like that. It can hurt you before you even know you have been hit by it.

If you need help, there are lots of people here that will walk you through it. Also do a search on "front end rebuild", ball joints, etc. and a lot of your questions will be answerd.

Good luck.

Dan

 

I've broken an autozone tool before and they still gave me my money back. The important difference between those cars you've mentioned and the f-bodies is that the springs aren't contained by the struts so you have to keep an eye on them.

 

Spohn sells moog front rebuild kit for under $400. The struts are much easier to deal with on our cars becaue the spring are not part of the strut like the imports.

Incidentally, now is a good time to replace the struts also. I did my whole front end in one day. It really was not difficult.

 

Thanks for the replies all. I am now in the process of locating the parts online.

Paul Kamp

 

If this'll help, you can find the parts list of my rebuild here: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=184552