got my tires rotated and so was My wallet!

I decided it was time to get the tires rotated on My 1998 jeep grand cherokiee as it had been overdue. After driving My newer buick most of the time I had noticed that the jeep felt a bit "lose" in the front end so I asked the service humans at bel tire to check a few things. They came back with a list! Said there was 2.5 inches of play in my tie rod ends!! They also seemed quite entertained that the tie rods or the ball joints had not failed yet.
We duked it out over the list they made but they where still able to pluck $1,186 from My hoard and a few scales from My tail.
Overall though I belived it was about time for that level work due to the vehical having 167kmiles and I do use it offroad. I still feel a little bad as I probly could have done the work My self, but it's cold out and well if a wheel falls off it's not going to My fault. I just now wish they got the front end alignment right as I need to go back in the morning

Yikes, that's a hefty bill. I haven't got a clue on what the normal market value for the stuff you had done on your jeep. It must have been right, or else for sure you would have been screaming bloody murder already. Anyways, I feel your pain. My 92' honda accord is pushing 187k and I have had to replace some things just because the car is that old and the stuff needs replacing. Money well spent though, your car will be there for you when you need it the most.

the list is as follows.
2 upper ball joints
2 lower ball joints
2 universal joints (solid front axle)
2 outer tie rod ends
steering link bar? (I belive it's ends where worn out and where not replaceable)
there where a few other parts too.
This summer I will be replacing the steering dampner, shocks and the front brake pads and rotors. 167kmiles with the orginal pads, as you can tell I drive the highway a lot too.

Rotors can be resurfaced (turned)
Steering link bar is also called a draglink by some.
The price seems a bit hefty though.
I usually let the dealer do all major service interval services.
It's been economical overall for both my trucks.

Thats why you do your own work. If you rotate your own tires then you can check for worn parts each time and not wait until they feel loose or something breaks. Also you can't have 2.5" of play in a tie rod end, the ball joints in them are not even 2.5" in diameter, a couple tenths of an inch and they would pop apart.

some work I am not willing todo my self and I have seen vehicals with that level of play in the steering. I belive the 2.5 inches is posible when every thing is added together. I forgot to add that, my bad. the play was at the steering wheel. My buddys pickup truck was realy bad.
I usaly do My own work but roating the tires is hard when you only have 1 jack and 2 jack stands and you can get it done for free else where.
Now what I did learn is I need a better method of checking steering and suspension parts, because I did miss a few things.
I will say that afer the fact I don't need to turn the streeing wheel about 2 inches off center before the vehical moves, I just did not notice the play untill I drove another vehical for a few days and whent back to the jeep.

All the other stuff (breaks, shocks, steering dampner) I will replace my self, in the spring, hammering on a ball joint in the snow is not currently somthing I would wish todo.I guess thats another varible in the picture.
The bel tire I took the jeep to generaly does good work, kinda why I was willing to pay more for the labor. I just wish it was a better time of year.

Thanks 3rd shift, My dealership is usaly more expensive.

Its still not worth it to get it done even for free. I have one jack and two jack stands and that is all that is needed. While your rotating the tires you look for other problems, most places that are rotating them for free don't. I can get mine rotated for free but its not worth the risk of having the lug nuts over torqued or broken or too loose because the guy doing it doesn't care that day and those things happen all the time.

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Eugene said:...I can get mine rotated for free but its not worth the risk of having the lug nuts over torqued or broken or too loose because the guy doing it doesn't care that day and those things happen all the time.

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I had mine rotated once and the guy cross threaded one of the lug nuts. I noticed it when I went to do a manual tightening with my wrench. I went back there, and the guy denied doing it, but when he went to loosen the nuts he broke that particular stud. So they had to fix it for free. Since then I've been doing my own rotations, thank you very much.

eek! you do have a good point, I guess I am just lazy when it comes to that, usaly the place I goto is good at replacing studs if they break. I know I have broken and replaced a few studs my self and with out airpowered tools that can be quite a pain to knock out and retorque the new ones on. I also found out with my old s-10 that you can drive for about a year on 3 lug nuts before the wheel comes off, I had one of thouse "I knew I forgot to replace something" I remembered about 2 broken studs when the rear wheel passed Me as I made a turn. The shower of sparks was another indication. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif
About how long does it take to do a typical rotation?
Also is there a good way to check the tie rod ends and ball joints? I know how to inpect for failed boots and stuff like that.

it's pretty easy to check for play in your tie rod ends/linkage. Ball joints are a little tuffer.

get someone to turn your steering wheel gently back and fort while you are looking at all the linkage below. You will plainly see where the play is originating from.

some like to take large pliers, crank down to feel for play. There should be little to no play.

To check you ball joints. you need to weight your suspension and watch it move. If you see any play or hear a clunk. ball joints are bad. There should be no play.

This is how I do it, others may inspect it differently. I recently replaced the tie rod ends and drag link on my FJ60 Toyota Landcruiser.

Eek at the price...but at least you know it's done now.

Putting off replacing a bit of exhaust or an oil filter is one thing, but steering stuff, well, that's different. By ignoring it, you'd be not only risking your own hide, but that of other road users...but as you've had it done, good. One less thing to worry about.

Month or so ago I had the lower left hand front ball joint on my '89 Saab 900i fail. Granted, that was courtesy of a city contractor failing to put a drain grating back in place. Joint had been knocking for a while - hit that while trying to dodge a taxi - clunking got a LOT worse...managed to limp as far as college, but on going over the speed bump on the way into the carpark - the ball decided to totally part company with the joint. Also managed to pull the driveshaft out and tear both CV boots....Grrrr. Still, only took a couple of hours to fix and £30 in parts. Thank goodness for me having RAC breakdown cover though! Otherwise I'd have had to pay to get the car brought home.

As for working in the snow, I really need to change the gearbox oil in the jeep this week, and it's snowing now...got the gearbox, transfer case, steering box and both axles to do! Heh, gonna be fun. Guess I should change the engine oil and grease all the UJ's, balljoints and fix the exhaust rattle while I'm under there too, shouldn't I!

Still, at least a jack isn't needed unless a wheel's being taken off. Few things I hate more than working under a car that's on axle stands, I have enough issues with this body, without a ton and a half of Russian four wheel drive being dropped on it!

What is it with arrangements where there's a steering link bar running across the car? Why on earth does it seem to be the "in" thing not to make the balljoints on the ends replaceable? Had to replace my link bar for the last MOT (to the tune of £90 list price - though I got it for £30), because one of the balljoints had dried out and worn excessively. If the joint was replaceable, it'd have been £7! And this isn't the only two cars I've seen this arrangement on.

Still, I'm assuming the garage was good enough to let you know what it was going to cost before they did the work? Garage decided not to do that last time I had something done, and I was needless to say, displeased when I was presented with a bill of £150, for what I had assumed to be a five minute task. That was basically the last time I did, or ever will, go to a garage just to save myself time. I'll just get my paws dirty in future...it's cheaper!

Okay, random rant/ramble over, I'll go back to my corner now.

Car: Noun. Item at which money is relentlessly thrown at.

Luckly We don't have MOT inspections here but still if you cause a car acident due to lack of maintance the owner can be at fault.
The place I took my jeep too did tell Me in advance on what the costs where, but I am finding parts that they did replace that are not on the work order, they did not charge extra so I am not complianing about that, But what I am going to complaine about is the missing bolt to the steering dampner that I found christmas night after I had an unexpected clunking from the front end. That I am a bit growly about and will take the vehical back in the morning.
They usaly do good work at the place I whent to so I am a bit suprized, They probly did not torque the bolt correctly. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif