oh yea...cracked exhaust manifold too. I guess that's not the headers right?

 

The cracked exhaust mainifold probably is what you are calling a header. XJs come with a tubular manifold until someone puts an after market exhaust header on them. $425 dollars to replace 3 U-joints is Highway Robbery, in my humble opinion. Probably only around $60 of that is the actual price of the U-joints themselves. Do the install yourself, if you can. Find a buddy who can help you. No sense in lining some crook mechanic's pockets unless you have no other choice.

 

The U-joints are about $50 apiece. I don't think they're the OEM ones since it's an aftermarket parts store...

I would love to have done it myself, but I don't have the time. I get home from work in the dark and I'm going out of town this weekend with it

 

After market parts store would also explain the outlandish cost for labor.

 

ok, well, then besides the price tag of

The cracked exhaust manifold. What effect does that have to the Jeep?

I can easily go to the local yard and salvage one from a wrecked Jeep, which I'll probably do. Can I do this repair myself? Should I get aftermarket/better?
She's only got 167,000 miles on her and one day I'll just buy another car and keep it as a project to finally "build".

 

Having a crack in the manifold just makes noise and causes you to lose a little low end power. I suppose it could cause you to get nasty fumes inside, as well.

 

huzzah!!! more problems. While taking out the drive shaft to change the u-joints, they've discovered that the driveshaft connections have become screwed up (most likely from the road trip that required about 300 miles of high vibe driving). They can't put it back together without a new one. They located a used one and it'll be here tomorrow. Man, this car must have been messed up a long time to make this damage. I've requested all parts to be kept until pickup so I can inspect and verify all damage.

 

and i really wish I had the money to get high quality aftermarket stuff

 

That mechanic sounds like he would try the old short dip the dip stick and tell you you're a quart low, too.

 

well, i'm not that dumb when it comes to mechanics. I'd do the work myself, but don't have the time. Hence why all parts are being saved for my perusing for proof.

 

Wow...I almost spit my coke out when I read that... $425 for 3 u-joints?!? Man, have I been undercharging people all these years...

U-joint, Brute Force: $16.99, Autozone

x3 = $50.97

 

I feel ya, HeepSpeed. Just burns my backside to see a brother get raked by a shadey mechanic.

 

OK, so I called about the parts. The U-joints are heavy duty aftermarket and shouldn't need to replace forever. The shaft is coming used from a yard.

I've seen aftermarket joints run about $50 a piece online. And if anything goes out, you bet your butt I'm heading right back in.

 

oh, and obviously no more labor cost is being charged for the shaft since they had to take it out anyways.

$200 used. Yea, I could probably go get one myself at a yard for way less, but I need the car tomorrow night .

So I think I'm at ~$1,200 in repairs and necessary maintenance (tires). Man, that manifold and leaky lines better hold up real well for the next couple months lol

 

oh, all prices (except drive shaft) include labor time. so it's not just parts...still a rip, but it's a shop