Advice needed!

[brash47]

***Update***

I went with Rockauto for parts:
$721
Brand new Delco Steering rack with 16mm inner/outer rods included.
Moog lower ball joints
Moog upper control arms
Moog sway bar links
AAM seal and bearing for my passenger transaxle

4Wheelparts shocks sale:
4 Bilstein 5100s with boots
$309

Labor: $900

Total: $2000 basically a brand new front end it rides great.


Just left a shop nearby after getting a second opinion. I'm getting some front end vibration on the hwy. My tire shop told me I need to change my lower ball joints and showed me how my wheels have slight back and forth movement.

I took it to a local trusted shop. He looked at it and said I need new lower ball joints, upper control arm, inner and outer tie rods.

I have original 14mm 2006 tie rods. I've gotten 255k out of them, so I understand the wear.

I've heard I can replace those parts with 16mm parts if I do them all.

There is a generic kit that includes a full conversion kit for $314, except the lower ball joints.

I parted it out with Moog parts at a little over $500.

The shop said labor is 6-8 hours...estimated $800.

I need advice. 1. Does the labor sound high for just replacing parts. 2. Moog parts or the generic conversion kit, or go with 14mm replacement parts to stay oem ?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Brash

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[JPaul]

Moog or OEM. These trucks chew up generic parts for breakfast. My preference is OEM (either GM OEM or AC Delco Professional, but the AC Delco Advantage parts). Otherwise you're likely to be having to replace the parts again shortly down the road, especially if you wheel it at all.

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[Traxx]

Stick with OEM, you got 255k out of it, a little bit more and not have to do it twice.

 

[3Hummers]

$100/hour for shop labor isn't bad.

 

[Kick'n Dust]

Moog and oem are good choices. The Moog 16mm tie rods I bought are beefier than oem. I like them and have 50k on them with a lot of hard use with no issues yet. Your getting a deal on the labor lol. That's a decent amount of work to do

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[mjferencak]

If you have a little mechanical know how, tools, and a free weekend you can knock it out yourself and save on labor charges. These H3 have lots of room to work and are pretty straight forward. Plus you have the guys on this forum that can help you with just about everything on these rigs. Just my 2 cents.

 

[USMC_315]

I only read about the first half of your post, but I was having similar issues this past spring. Found out it was my hubs that were going bad, I'd take a look at them or get a second opinion. I took care of those and replaced lower control arms and bushings and if I'm not mistaken also replaced the tie rods. Now I'm sitting pretty with minimal vibrations while driving, or at least as good as you can get with mud grapplers haha

 

[CaseyS]

Add an alignment to the budget too. If you want to adjust your torsion bars any more, do it before the alignment.

 

[brash47]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll go with Delco and Moog parts...some of the Delco stuff is hard to come by atm.

Alignment wise. I have a lifetime alignment th ing with firestone, which is how I learned of all this. The guy there showed me the wheel play, ill update costs after I get it done.

Looks like rockauto has pretty good prices on parts.

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[brash47]

Updated for those having similar issues.

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[Ghostbuster]

Updated for those having similar issues.

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Do you happen to have a part number for those MOOG lower ball joints?

Thanks.


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[brash47]

Moog K500250

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