HI! well guys a while back there was a guy on here and said that the shop was changing balljoints on his truck all the time and every time he went to get it lined up they would tell him he's ball joints was bad.So i was telling him that they should not need changed that often and that the shops were telling him that so he spend money.I took that 1993 dodge of mine and took it to tire plus in olathe ks put tires on it and told them to line it up they sold me the tires and then told me the top ball joints are out that they wanted $508.00 to fix them so i set up to check them at a guy that is good we checked the front end out together there is noyhing wroung with any thing it lined up perfect so there you go! DONT EVER TRUST THESE SHOPS

 

When I do any repairs I always take the time to show the customer why the part is bad. Then I always return the old parts to the customer. Nobody likes getting ripped off, especially in this economy. I strive for repeat customer business many ask for me by name to work on their trucks. I guess being honest does pay off.

 

I really wish there were more guys like you. I'm sick of gettin screwed by every Tom,Dick, and Harry who thinks they need to pay their bills by running me through the ringer.

 

Yup when I took the wife's car into the Chrysler dealership they told me it only had 10% left on the brakes. Really, I swap tires twice a year and visually check everything so i knew better. That was 3 years ago and I finally just swapped in a new set of rotors and pads.

Not all shops are like that but you have to be careful and be informed.

 

BigIron70 it's unusal to find an honest shop anymore but not to say that there are some. You sound like me in alot of ways, I would just about have all repeat customers than new customers. Showing them up front whats wrong then showing the wore out parts afterwards is the only way to do business. Very few shops even want the customer close to the shop "yea insurance is the excuse" but mostly because they are crooked. Anyways good to hear someone say "repeat business" is their bread and butter.

 

We have a bunch round here that will not only rip you off but do a bad job to boot. My phone book has a lot of red lines through business names. They will never see me again or get a referral. One shop I reported to the State for what they did to one of my cars. The shop I use now I would recommend to anyone. Good people that won't sell you what you don't need, if it ain't right they will make it right and not charge you for it.

 

When a shop tells you your ball joints are worn out, always ask what the play was measured at, and ask what the allowable spec is. Have the technician show you the play, if you don't believe you are due for ball joints. It seems that some technicians aren't aware that some movement is allowed on many ball joints (or they don't think the customer is aware), and they will condemn any joint that shows any movement at all.

 

Yeah that was one of the things I just had repaired on my truck was ball joints, however I just bought my truck 2 weeks ago and I didn't realize that the previous owners of the truck allowed alot of things on the truck to go bad without replacing them, and I actually just spent over $2000 fixing alot of worn out parts. Im not real worried about it though because I got a good deal on the truck.

 

You must have got your truck from the same guy I got mine from

 

Yes, I could let it bother me but eh Im stuck with the truck now, can't change the decision that I made on buying my truck, and so life goes on for me. I was prepared for replacing of some of the parts I mean it is a 17 yr old truck with 150k, but I just didn't think it would cost me the $2000 im paying now.


But I will keep an eye out for mechanics and shops wanting to replace things that don't need replacing, and Im going to ask them to show me the parts that were replaced and If I get a sketchy feeling I don't think ill return to that alignment shop again...

 

Our trucks have kingpins.....

 

Whats the difference between ball joints and king pins.Which is easiest to change.

 

Ya, that's what I thought but the guy at the the alignment shop that I took my truck to said that the king pin on our trucks isn't a real kingpin??? I don't know but anyways I hope these guys aren't screwing me around, I heard lots of good things about them ( Merle's Alignment) from others around OKC on several different forums when I did a search on them...

It's just to early to tell, I'll know when i go up there to pick up my truck.

 

2WD's have ball joints

 

The idea that our trucks "dont have real king pins" is because there are 4 total in the front end. Since the front axle shafts go through the area where the king goes they split the pins. They are still a king pin, just not a "normal" king pin like you would find on a semi tractor.
DS79