I'm getting conflicting diagnosis from 2 different places. When bought my Mickey MTZ tires from PepBoys, they did the alignment but couldn't get camber set to 0 as the camber bolts on one of the upper control arms was froze (drivers side I think). They said I also needed lower ball joints, which are built as part of the lower control arm....quoted me at $700.00

When I had the truck at GM for service for the heater resistor (before fixing it myself), they checked the front end and said that the upper ball joints have excessive play and need replaced...of course these are built into the upper control arms as well.....quoted me at $1000.00

I'm not sure who to believe at this point but really need to get this issue fixed so that I can pass PA inspection. How likely is it for the upper or lower to go bad? I'm at 113000 miles...

So far none of the auto parts stores here in Pittsburgh carry the parts and say it's a dealer only item. I'm not sure if these are easy to replace or not...my dad feels that they are (ex-diesel driver/mechanic). I know the way to test is to grab the tire at the top and bottom and pull back and forth to check for too much movement right? Are the upper and lower control arms cheap and what would be a good online store to purchase these online?

 

upper is a one piece change it all, expensive.
you can change parts of the lower. never did it myself.
others will comment

 

only the top ones are one piece. the bottoms can be pressed out. Check rockauto.com

 

X2, on what skeeter wrote.

If your upper and lowers are bad your rig should be very hard to control on the road.

PS: didn't we advise you to stay away from PepBoyz for anything mechanical?

 

And didn't we also tell you that a dealer is the LAST place to get any work done? $$$$$

The lower ball joints and the upper control arms (with built in ball joint) are available at Rockauto.com
AC Delco ball joint about $32 each
AC Delco upper arm about $132 each

It looks like it's a fairly easy job to swap these out. I'll be doing mine soon if it ever get warm again in New England..

 

napa has them as well

 

Yes I know Tainter and Bunger...LOL! I only ended up dealing with Pepboys because they got me the cheapest price on the MTZ's and I bought the 3month alignment warranty. I got final confirmation that it is definetly the uppers that are bad "excessive play". I called NAPA who has them for 154.00 each and will grab them from there. Also need camber bolts as they are froze up on one side...lowest price i found was 21 bucks each.

I would think that its an easy job (even my dad thinks so) but the shop that I was going to take it to says they would need to keep it for 3 days as the job is more involved than most other vehicles. I thought it was simply popping the ball joint loose, removing the camber bolts and pulling the control arm out? This shop is charging 215.00 labor (if i have them order the bolts, control arms, and alignment, then the total repair is 965.00), they did say i can buy the parts and bring them in....

Tainter, the truck is fairly easy to control on the road but when I get a little speed or going around a bend on the highway, it feels similar to being on a boat (when suspension bounces, seems to go up and down and a lil side to side); noticed after cranking the torsion bolts. I do get a knocking noise when hitting a bump or driving over the curb of a driveway which confirms the ball joint issue.

 

rockauto has 3 brands:

Dorman $96
Moog $116
AC Delco $132

Which is the better or most reliable one to go with? I've heard of Moog and AC Delco; never heard of Dorman but I like the price....

 

I'll be going ACDelco when mine go if someone hasn't designed an upper control arm with a replaceable joint or at least rebuildable joints.

Pretty much your decision. It would depend on how long you want to keep your rig.

 

That shop is going to take 3 days to do a 3 hour job?
WTF?