My 1994 Jeep Cherokee Laredo needs ball joint replaced. One mechanic had a real hard time removing the upper joint on the driver side so he gave up. I now have taken the car to another mechanic who sort of rolled his eyes and said this job may take more than 2 days to complete. Does ball joint replacement usually take this long? Has anyone else had a similar problem in getting ball joints replaced?
They are not that hard to replace and there is no way it should take 2 days. Depending on how many ball joints are being replaced(1 or all 4) it should take a minimum of a couple hours to a max of 4 hours to complete.
A special C-clamp ball joint press is needed to replace the ball joints. Maybe the shop that attempted to replace them didn’t have the special tool needed to perform the job that’s why they said it would take 2 days. Maybe you need to find another shop, if this shop couldn’t do the job in the first place I would be suspicious of their diagnosis of worn out ball joints.
I’m puzzled as to why they think this is so difficult. I have had ball joints replaced on several cars over they years and I always dropped the car off in the morning and picked it up late afternoon.
On of the last cars, a 1977 Colt, needed ball joints, struts and other front end items, and Midas did the whole job in one afternoon for $750.
Try another shop, or even Midas; they service all high volume cars and trucks. Their price will be very competitve.
Maybe there’s something difficult about this vehicle. I’ve never had a ball joint that would take more then a couple of hours to replace.
I would take it to a shop that specializes in Jeeps. Obviously the ones you are taking it to are clueless. The Jeep front end is not any more difficult to work on than any other vehicle.
Eh ?
These are auto mechanics you’re taking your Jeep to ? Right ?
If your guys are rolling their eyes at this job, don’t give them anything complicated like a plug change.
Removing Jeep ball joints does need a special tool, but you can improvise. You do need to remove the steering knuckle, but so what…and 2 days ? Ridiculous.
I would have told you, “sorry, I don’t do anything resembling work.” Not helpful, but honest at least. You want it when? From us? The other method would be to learn how to do the job so I could keep mine. There is more money for a shop in that job than a lot of other ones. If a person has to work eight hours a day anyway, they shouldn’t be picky how they do it. Rolling their eyes at money isn’t a good practice.
A couple of hours at the absolute most to do one side and that could be stretching it a bit.
Any mechanic who rolls his eyes and brushes off a ball joint job must not have an intimate relationship with money.
(Hope that first guy realizes it takes a ball joint press tool to change those and he was not just flailing away with a large hammer.)
As I recall you have to remove the upper ball joint stud and the lower one from their holes in the axle housing extension simultaneously. It is a lot harder than say, Chevy rear wheel drive pickup front lower ball joints which are a piece of cake with the OTC ball joint press. Still, 2 days is ridiculous if he means 16 hours- absolutely, way over the top, no-doubt-about-it too much time. He may have just been
trying to dissuade you from having him do the job. Call a Jeep dealer and get a price on the job, not because dealers are better but because in this case the special service tool that most other garages don?t have speeds up the job.