Quote:
Originally Posted by davintosh
Well done! Glad to hear things went well, and costs were relatively low.
Before I started on mine, I asked for a ballpark price on replacing the bearings from a local guy who runs a small mom & pop (literally; he & his wife do all the work) brake shop, and he said he'd probably charge about $1200 for the fronts alone. I've probably got about $600 into parts & tools for the front and rear bearings, plus all the parts I put into rebuilding the rear control arms, so I figure I paid myself pretty decently for the job. Plus I learned a few things along the way. Like I said before, it's not an easy job, but not impossible to DIY either.
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x3, really, the job itself is tedious and strenuous, but more than anything its the time factor. this is not a 2 hour easy job on a Saturday, but I'll be damned if I was paying 1000 bucks labor for it (I got quoted $1350 to replace both front bearings, and outer CV axle boots from a local indy if done at the same time, without alignment)
The only tools I purchased and kept were a dead blow hammer, 4 lb mini sledge, and a few extra wrenches/sockets from Harbor freight, probably about 40 bucks in tools I actually kept at the end of this job. If I kept the Harbor Freight bearing press set that would add another 90 bucks, but he sent me money as we were gonna split the tool (I don't think I'll be doing the front bearings again). I spent $8 to fabricate a special tool to draw the axle back in the hub on reinstallation (ground down axle nut welded onto a 21mm impact socket). Don't forget 9 bucks for the ear clamp tool (Advance Auto parts) on the axle boots.
The slide hammer (double brutal 10 lbs), hub puller/axle pusher tool were free after rental. Even if I kept the bearing tools I'd still be into this job for 150 in tools, total.
Use of jack handle as a "cheater bar" since I don't have impact gun - FREE
Dremeling the race off the hub and reusing the stock hub - FREE (saved 180 bucks on both sides)
Then my parts breakdown as follows:
Bearings - 90 bucks for pair
Circlips - 10 bucks for both
Dust shields on hub - 12 bucks for both
OEM GKN Loebro axle boot kits - 30 for the pair
New bolts/nuts for the strut (I like to replace hardware when I can) - 20 bucks
I'm lucky enough that I didn't run into Dave's problem and have a seized wheel sensor, mine both came out smoothly and were fine, and I'm lucky nothing else broke. But seriously, for $150 in parts, and $150 on tools, even though it literally took me two weeks start to finish (I seriously take my time with a job like this, and don't work on it every day), I still saved $1000 bucks that I ended up needing for some work around the house, so it was a win win in my book. It does feel rewarding knowing I did it myself and did it right, most of all, but definitely a job I do NOT want to do again!