I just put on a 1.5" leveling kit on the truck and went to go get it aligned and noticed the the lower ball joints are shot and said that there is no way to get it aligned with bad ball joints And also said that i would need new casters (Has the stock ones on there) but my question is he said it would be around $600. Im not a mechanic but im almost positive that thats to much. i can get all the parts i need for around $180 $200 range and do it myself but will still have to take it in to get it aligned. so would it be worth it to get the ball joints done at the shop or do it myself.

Thanks

 

I just had mine done this fall. I had to get both upper and lower ball joints and new control arms. I had the shop do it for $1000. This included and alignment. I have a 97 4x4 ext cab. Don't know how hard to change, looked like a pain in the a** but I know it can be done. An alignment is probably $100 of that cost.

 

Yeah The guy said that the alignment would be $60 and the new casters would be $50 and i know i could get the casters alot cheaper the that but i dont know.

 

I just did uppers and lowers this past summer on my 99 150 4X4, and for a DIY not very often, but on occasion, it was a fairly easy task. Just gotta have the right tools. I was told by a couple of shops in town, that I didnt need the caster/camber kits. But then again you have a lift in the front, I dont. But I think the kit is about 75 bucks. My truck rides fairly straight, and i went into have an alignment but they told me they couldnt do it because the idler arm was bad, and i didnt feel like paying an extra 200 bucks for them to fix it. but they said it should be okay. I need to get an alignment soon. I think I paid around 80 for the uppers w/ control arms, and about 30-40 for lowers. Easy task though. took me about 4 hours. 2 on the first side, lunch, and about 45-1 hour on the next side.

 

As far as doing it yourself, I would and pay the 60-80 to have it aligned.