Cronx210

The shop wants $750.00 to make these repairs to my 96 XJ

-Upperball joint left
-Lower ball joint left
-Trac bar
-Universal joint L/outer
-Hub&bearing assembly

Is that overpriced?, and how hard are those repairs to DIY?

Hylander

Way over priced.
You can atleast do the Trac bar yourself, new under $150
The rest a shop should be able to do for under $300

Desert Rat

Does the estimate include parts? If thats just labor I think your getting hosed!

Jetfixr320

If that's including parts it might not be that far off.
I wouldn't pay it myself. I just replaced my right side axle shaft the other day.
I've never done ball joints myself though.

There is a website with good info, try WWW.MyJeepXJ.com I think? He has some good parts replacement write ups on there.

Jet

TYphoon

WAY overpriced. You could do most of that yourself.

RENIXBEAST

i checked out that link from JEtfix. It was the worse site for xj's i've ever been on. Don't click on it.

85on32+4

go to a different mechanic...and tell HIM what you need replaced... if you go in knowing exactly whats wrong they wont assume you dont know anything, and 'fudge' you on the price
if you act like you know nothing, they're wolves,and your a sheep.

Willys55

If that price includes labor and tax, then it is in the ball park. I just looked up the labor and parts on my computor and in my shop in NW New Jersey you would be looking at 675 +tax and that would include the alignment as well as 1 year warranty

Jetfixr320

The site I mentioned had a decent writeup for replacing the front axles and hubs.

I figured it would help the original poster with deciding if he could tackle doing the work on his jeep or not.

Some of the peeps on here might not have the extensive back ground in wrenching as the rest of you guys.

Just trying to help out. Sorry to let Renix down with my first post.

Jet

sv41878

If you have basic mechanical knowledge, should be a day project at best. Ball joints are the hardest, books will tell you take it to a mechanic, but really if you know how to use a ball joint press (good write up about ball joints on this forum a few days ago), your set. Once you get those done, the rest should be cake work.

c-loss

x2. They are the hardest part of all of that list. the wheel bearings can be kinda a pain to get loose from the knuckle if they are really rusted on. Get a good tear down book and takle it yourself. It will teach you something.

storm101

also for information on most of that you can go into the xj writeup section on this site!!

I know there are writeups on u-joints and wheel bearings, thats what i followed to do mine, pretty easy when you see the stuff in process and know the right tools before you do it!

sv41878

See I think wheel bearings are easy, as soon as you get that big bolt loose, BFH that thing, they pop out rather easy, I'm in NY with way to much rust and didn't have much trouble.

Jetfixr320

After the 36MM nut was removed I had to use a 2 Jaw gear puller and a good hit with the BFH to get my hub out.
Cleaned it all up and reinstalled with plenty of antiseize.

Cronx210

thans for the comments fella's!