So after my vehicle inspection the dude at plaza tire says i need ball joints on my 07 2wd silvy.
And how much? "We're looking at about 1800 bucks".

Now look, i get it that a guy has to make a buck but for 1800 bucks i could get another beater truck!

Anyone ever had them replaced? Roughly how much was it? Thanks guys.

Get a 2nd opinion

X2

It is always best to have a mechanic you know and can trust. Unlike a guy at a shop trying to sell you work.
Some national/regional chain shops are HEAVILY pushed into selling work. I've seen some real inflated repair orders that people have been talked into.

I am not going to give any names to these national chains. But I will tell you that some of them are household names and are very large.

Get a local mechanic at a private shop , not chain or stealership.

At bear minimum , get a friend who is knowledgeable about cars and pick their brain and have them check out your truck.

We just replaced them in my sons 3/4 ton dodge and spent 900. I know it’s not a Chevy but it shouldn’t be to out of wack .

For your truck - all 4 joints for about $60 or all 4 joints already installed with new control arms for about $300 parts cost. Every shop-oil change -inspection place seems to tell everyone they need new ball joints if they need them or not. Its easy money for them. I would check them yourself or find someone honest to look at it - that place wants to screw you. They are easy to change yourself if you have average mechanical skills.

How far are you from Columbia MO?

WOW Just bought new Moog for my Tacoma for $50 both lower ball joints. Looked on parts geek for yours and says $50 per side. The rest should be labor. That being said if they are doing them with factory name brand parts they are much higher. That is why went with Moog. If you have the time and inclination check out the you tube videos. They aren't hard to do and Autozone has a loaner tool for them.

If you detect ANY play in them replace as when they go out the front wheel can come off or end up under the truck.

I had my right front ball joint replaced today, 07 Silverado 399 and some change.
Your guy seems high..

I did the left front on my 08 a few years back. Two people 2-3 hours, half a dozen beers and I think less than $200 in parts.

$1800.00 seems a tad high, is he replacing all 4 tires, washing the truck, filling the tank, replacing wipers and oil change if so you still may be getting screwed.

Sometimes original ball joints are riveted the rivets must be drilled out so original ball joints may be more expensive than ones that have been replaced before but not 1800 high you should be able to get it done for less than a third possibly a quarter that . Youtube has step by step directions thats what i would do if i wasnt working seven days a week

Yah, see if you tube can't help you out.

That seems ridiculous.

I'm getting all 4 of my ball joints done right now for $450 on a similar aged truck.

Upper ball joints aren't replaced by themselves, you have to replace the whole upper control arm. It's not too bad, but you'll need an alignment afterward as the upper control arm controls camber and caster. The lower I believe is pressed in. In any case, there are specs for ball joint lateral movement, they're usually pretty forgiving at something like .060". Have a mechanic you trust measure the play in the ball joints and if they're not out of spec don't bother replacing them.

X2, the suspension/alignment guy at the shop I work at does upper and lower in about 45-60 minutes per side not counting time to align it. At 1800 I could change joints on one truck every other week and not work any in between.

Buy good ball joints not cheap junk. I put some customer supplied cheap no name joints in his work van, it was too long for our alignment rack so he took to a shop 2 towns up. The owner of the shop calls us and asks if we did anything to the gear box because the steering wheel doesnt return to center it just stays where he puts it, and says he couldnt believe we installed cheap joints. Told him the customer supplied them. Long story short the van came back I removed the junk new parts, installed Moog joints, sent it out for alignment and all is well. So the customer paid for labor twice and parts twice because he tried to cheap out.

I've had them replaced on an '09, '10, and a '13. They seem to go about every 100-150k miles. I could probably dig out my service records, but, I seem to remember a bill of about $1500 each time, which probably included some routine maintenance like fluids and filters.

I suspect that $1800 is a bit on the high side of typical pricing. You could probably do a little better with a little shopping around. Keep in mind, though, quality parts, and guarantee also matter. I had one replacement fail at about 50k, and my mechanic replaced it for free.

I've dealt with a similar issue on Ford trucks. Moog ball joints for F250-350s are waaaaaay too tight, to the point that you almost can't turn the knuckle by hand with the tie rod disconnected. I tried em once, and the street ng wheel would just stay where ever you turned it to, it had no return at all. Motorcraft ball joints are way easier to turn and the only way to go for those trucks. Moog ball joints have always done well for me on Chevy trucks though, I've never had any issues with them, there's no need to buy factory parts.

They are trying to rip you off. I replaced all the ball joints and tie rod ends for under $400. If you have any mechanical ability at all, you can do it. As stated, you will need an alignment. I had a similar thing happen to me at a GM dealer. Had my 06 Duramax in to get a glow plug replaced. The service manager came out and said you have a major problem with your front end. It will be $2500 to fix. I told him no way, just fix the glow plug. I put over 100,000 miles on it before I replaced everything. I wonder how many times that works on people. Needless to say they will never get any of my business again.

With moog have you noticed they seem to have 2 different lines, both come in the same moog box but one line the part number starts with K and the lower quality part numbers start with RK. At least we have had more issues with the RK #s than the K #s. Have had some of the cheap store brands actually pop the caps off the backs when greasing them.