went to the dealer to have tires rotated and grease the chassis. Service guy pulls me in and shows me the boots on upper ball joints are torn. To replace the ball joints , he says I have to replace the upper control arms??? The new ones come with ball joints in them. His cost is $130.00 per arm? Any thoughts here guys. I thought you can just press in new ball joints. Also, I know I can get better price for control arms. He said he would put in the control arms if I found them cheaper.
Any advice?
2005 Hummer H2

 

I checked into them... I thought about replacing the whole arm (assembly) and that's not a bad price. Replacing ball joints is a bitch and if you figure his time the price isn't bad

 

X2 I don't think you can beat the price without getting a bigger headache.

 

I agree guys, I'm a pretty good wrench, but I'm also a disabled Vet, and the thought of jacking the beast up in the cold and doing this job doesn't make me excited at all. My thoughts now is that I can get the control arms cheaper. I'm a big fan of OEM because if the fit, but I have run into aftermarket parts that can be superior and less expensive.
Bottom line , the dealership will do the job, I trust them, but the parts price is a bit much. Pennies count.
Thanks

 

With Ball Joints I would not go for the cheapest thing you can find. I would go with OEm or Moog. Your life depends on them and to save a few bucks with a cheap Chinese Ebay part is not worth it. The lowest price is not always the best value.
p.s. just because the boots are torn does not mean the joint is bad. You might be able to keep it going for a while with a plan to grease the joints more often.

 

Phil's correct... I am going Moog when I replace mine. I believe they have better grease channels but I could be wrong...

 

I sell about 7-10 ball joint replacement jobs a week on domestic trucks. I always tell the customer the same thing. Moog is not better or worse than stock but they are serviceable, you can grease them and they have a warranty. the only issue I had when I replaced my upper arms with the moogs is that the moog upper control arm is stamped metal where as my oem arm was boxed alloy. I was bummed but still used the moogs anyways because the next time they go bad the parts are free.


Ive warrantied plenty of moog parts as well. they last as long as stock but when they do go bad I get em for free and just charge the customer labor. Its a win win for both of us.

 

update......
I bought A/C Delco control arms for my H2 on Amazon for less that half what dealer wanted for them. I had a Dealer install and front end aligned. Thanks for all the input. This site is awsome in its ability to bring some strong corporate knowledge of a super vehicle.

 

good choice, I just found them on amazon. what a great price.