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Geez, they'll steer you straight, alright- straight into the poorhouse!

Is the "left" column the prices of the parts, and the "right" column is labor?

No way should a spindle cost you that much from a junkyard... -maybe- $30. Installation of a spindle is also -cake-... I swapped one onto my car, and it didn't take long at all.

What's an LBS? Oh- LBJ, lower ball joints. Here's a fun-fact! The guy gave you labor to install a spindle. You have to remove the spindle to get at the lower ball-joints! He's charging you double for labor he's already doing! Three things hook to the spindle- the strut, the lower ball joint, and the outer tie rod end. He's replacing all those 3 pieces anyway! Know what I mean?

I hopped to http://www.carparts.com for your car (which even They say is a 305, ). It seems his prices for the idler arm, center link, and tie rod ends are on par. However, from Carparts.Com, you can get Moog suspension parts- I wonder what brand that shop's trying to sell you.

Do you know you need a new steering box? A bad spindle, bad idler arm & bad center link can make your steering really loose- I had all three of those. (I had my shop do the idler & center link, I did the spindle.)

Why did you bring the car to the shop? Would you consider doing the work yourself? You can take care of the rear shocks yourself and not worry about affecting your steering. Even further, you can replace EVERYTHING he's quoted you for, do a "close-enough" alignment with a tape measure, and limp to another suspension shop to get an alignment done. That's what I'd recommend. The suspension stuff isn't hard to do.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

I just realized another dual-labor charge!

The center link attaches to the inner tie-rod ends, the steering box, and the idler arm.

Why would he charge you $54 labor for the center link, $80 for the tie-rods, and $62 for the idler arm? The $54 labor for the center link- okay, fine. But still, he's gotta unhook your old tie-rod ends and the idler arm to put the new link in! Two bolts hold the idler arm to the frame. That's $62 labor? Wow.

Plus, the outer tierod ends have to come off for the spindle. The inner tierod ends have to come off for the center link. Why charge to install the tie-rod ends (and the sleeve between the two) at all? Is it labor to take the new parts out of the box, and to put the old parts in the trash?

And $60 labor for the steering box.. maybe. He's gotta remove the pitman arm from the center link (should be part of the "center link labor"). A couple bolts hold the box to the frame. There's the power steering hoses, and then there's a bolt holding the steering wheel linkage to the box. Okay, I guess $60's fine.

One thing though, his parts-prices seem normal... so that's one good thing to say about him. He left out replacement of the control-arm-bushings; but that would be more cash... still, that's technically part of a rebuild.

If it were me, I'd do all that work myself, and limp to an alignment shop. The work's not hard.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

It's really not that hard, I rebuilt the entire front suspension including the steering box and the control arm bushings and had a shop check it and align it. It took me about 2 days and I took alot of breaks. If you don't do the control arm bushings it's really easy.

 

That's way to much. I rebuild the entire front with my friend. Buy all the parts your self and find another shop. There are a couple tools that will make life easier, a press for the busings and different pullers. Hell remove the arms yourself and have a shope press them in. My friend and I can come down and you can take us shopping at the Factory store, just kidding. The estimate is way to high. Do you need a spindle I can get them cheap. Good luck

 

NestZ, I think I take more breaks then I do work! Those are half the fun!

 

That's beyond grossly excessive. He's charging you the individual prices to do stuff, even when all he has to do is set the opne aside and pick up the other.

I have rebuilt several front ends, including the one in my 83; it took about 4 hours to do all the same stuff you've got in your list, except for rebuilding the gearbox and power steering pump, which took about 6 hours together. I did cheat on one thing: I went to the boneyard and got a set of control arms and took them to the corner Firestone store at closing time on Sat, and slipped the mech a $20 to do the bushings. Those need an air chisel and even then they're a witch with a capital B. The gearbox is alot of fun.

I left the alignment close enough that the wheels at least seemed to point in the same direction. Then on Monday I drove to my favorite place that had a SCCA guy on its alignment rack and got it aligned the way I wanted it.

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