New Brakes, Tie Rods, Drags - I Got Screwed

Well, after a few weeks of deciphering the problem and then having it confirmed by three shops and a few members of the forums community I have figured out what is wrong with my rig. Throughout this process I also discovered and confirmed that the shop which "fixed" my death wobble and "properly" installed my new tires in fact actually completely screwed me. Lesson learned, keep to the shops you trust and know.

So Read The Backstory Here, If You Are So Inclined
About 14k miles ago (little over a year of driving and about five months of the truck being garaged while at school) I brought my truck into a local tire shop JUST TO GET my new tires mounted and balanced. They seemed like trust worthy, nice people so I had them give my front end an inspection. Turned out I needed new Tie Rod Inner (from drag link to pitman arm), tie rod adjusting sleeve, and drag link end. I had them do the work along with the tires. Everything worked fine for a few months.

Or Skip The B.S. There ^ and Read From Here For Where I Really Need Some Suggestions

Fast forward to present time, my truck loves to pull in random directions, I have a weird shimmy while breaking from 60-45mph, and the vibrations throughout the truck are horrible.

After self inspection and having two trusted and one jeep specific shop look at my truck, I am being told essentially all the work the shop did would have to be redone with the addition of new front brake pads and rotors (unrelated to what the one shop did of course).

I have been told that my truck needs new outer tie rod and drag link replacement, basically all of the work that I had done less than 14k miles ago. The one jeep specific shop told me I need ball joints as well, but both the other mechanics told me they are fine so I think they can wait.

I have a trust worthy shop that wants to do the brakes for $342 (parts & labor) and the front end work for $679 (parts & labor).

So, I was wondering if the forums had any suggestions on brands I should use? I want upgraded equipment that is not going to let me down. Give me the best options and give me some options around the shop's current estimated price.

Really appreciate all the help!

Why are you calling your Jeep a truck?

Is doing any if this work yourself an option? There's tons of info here on Wayalife and plenty of people to help you out. All of this work is fairly easy to do with some basic tools. It's great to learn about your jeep and what makes it tick. Drag link, tie rod and outer bearings could all be replaced in a day. Things get a little more complicated when it comes to ball joints, but still doable.

Search out a reputable Jeep specific shop, if you can't do any of this work yourself. Tire shops and alignment shops are for the most part clueless when it comes to wrenching on Jeeps.....as far as replacement parts depends on your budget of course.

1. Your Jeep isn't a truck, unless you did a conversion and gave it a bed.
2. Option is to buy the parts and install them yourself. Get to know some fellow Wayalifers in your area, hopefully some with some wrenching expertise.
3. Buy food and booze and have an install party.

If you were in So. Cal I would offer up my garage, tools and help with the install. Nothing you need done is too difficult (except for the ball joints).

The brakes are so easy to do, my wife has done my jeeps brakes twice. And I'm still alive!!!!
You will save tons of money learning to do it yourself and the satisfaction of being able to do it is great.
Plenty of write ups and you tube how to's to help

As others mentioned, just do the work yourself. For the money you are talking about, you could get a beefy aftermarket tie rod with heavier duty rod ends, and new ball joints, if you do it yourself. While your at it you could have a welder come to your house and burn in a set of C gussets for you.

As for parts, there's quite a few good tie rods out there. Currie is probably #1, but is the most expensive. It is also probably the strongest. I ran the Rock Krawler tie rod on my last JK and had no problems, was very strong. never bent it or wore out the rod ends. Another option is the Synergy tie rod. If you go with it, get the misalignment boots or it'll knock and clang on every bump.

Ball joints are know to wear out very quickly. The oem ones are full of plastic inside, and are not greasable. There's aftermarket options from Synergy and Crown, maybe a few others, that are affordable and will last a bit longer. I ran the Synergy ball joints with out problems for 20k miles or so on my last JK before I sold it, mainly because at the time they were the only other aftermarket option aside from the Dynatrac ball joints. With that said, the Dynatrac ball joints are hands down the best ones you can get. They are adjustable for preload and rebuildable. They are expensive, and the rebuild kits are not all that cheap either. They are strong, made in the USA parts that are reliable. Take that for what it's worth.

Brakes are a very easy job. You can get good pads for fairly cheap, and replace the pads in an hour with basic hand tools and a c-clamp. If you have done it before and know what you're doing it's a 15 - 20 min job per side. Just DIY and put the money you were going to waste on labor towards quality replacement parts, not the oem crap.

A good tip on your Jeep in general is to head over the write-ups and things you need to know sub-forums of the JK section of this forum, and read through the info in there. Lots of great info in there that will help you out. Doing the work yourself will give you a better overall understanding of how the parts on your Jeep work, and make you more competent at fixing on the trail.

Not so sure I'd call getting all the work done the first time a rip off sounds like you have other issues causing those parts to wear prematurely. I'd question doing the same work all over again without figuring out what the root cause is.
If you have all stock components I would check the rubber bushings on the track bar as well as other front end components. Do you have a drop pitman arm?

I

10frank9 said:

1. Your Jeep isn't a truck, unless you did a conversion and gave it a bed.
2. Option is to buy the parts and install them yourself. Get to know some fellow Wayalifers in your area, hopefully some with some wrenching expertise.
3. Buy food and booze and have an install party.

If you were in So. Cal I would offer up my garage, tools and help with the install. Nothing you need done is too difficult (except for the ball joints).

Click to expand...

I'll have to give that a try, thanks