ever replaced ball joints 07-13 silverado?

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.

I did mine for about $40 bucks. So let's put this in perspective. He'll have $40 to $50 bucks in the ball joints. Jack the front end up. pull both front tires pull the rotors. use a tool you can ret at Autozone which they own. remove key and nut. Press out old ball joint with special tool and impact wrench. Install new ball joints the same way. Then put it back together in reverse. Grease new ball joints if he uses good ones. So they are only making about $1,725.00 in profit and labor. Now does it sound like a good deal. Oh and it's gonna take a decent mechanic about an hour.

Sorry I should have mentioned there is an upper and a lower on each side at about $25 a set everything else is the same.

You bought 4 ball joints for $40. What third world impoverished country did you get those in????? My father just did his 08 half ton Chevy and the parts alone were at least $300

Maybe he went to a junkyard with late model wrecked vehicles in the yard. We got a junk yard like that.

Order the upper and lower control arms from Detroit Axel and do it yourself. !'m 72 and just replaced mine on my '99 Silverado. Got less than $200 in it.
Just looked yours up. $67.74 for both uppers, $97.24 for both lowers with 2 new tie rod ends and other stuff. You can buy one of those low-profile floor jacks from harbor Freight for about $70 to lift the lowers when you put in the springs and still be under $275. The part #s for yours are Lowers----K80669 or K80670 Uppers --- 80010-BA Detroit Axel manufactures parts for new cars.

The same third world impoverished country GM got theirs from

Probably bought the store brand super economy joints, or worse yet maybe they were dorman joints. Dorman doesnt make car parts that sell turds shaped like car parts.

Thanks for everyone's advice. I ended up buying the parts for $200 and have a buddy with a lift and all the tools and stuff. We put them on today, took every bit of 5 hours and a oxy-acetylene torch but we got em done.

One of the best resources in YOU-Tube. You can also get some of the tools from auto-zone. You pay for them and whey you bring that back you get your money back, like a rent. I just take my lap top out and plug it in a follow along with that they are doing. I watch to operation first to see if I need any special tools. Glad you saved yourself a lot of money, AND you know it was done right!