Lower ball joint cost syncro

[Microbusdeluxe]

It looks like my lower ball joints need to be replaced on my 1989 syncro. I don't have a press and really do not want to do this particular job. What are your opinions on the labor costs for this work?
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'69 Squareback RIP
'65 21 window deluxe sold before the price spike, damn it.
'70 rhd bay now a taxi in South Sudan
'81 Westy sold
'89 hightop Westy Joker syncro 16" now with Bostig!

[vanis13]

Bellingham, WA....$230/hr is what NorthWesty was at when I was there a few summers ago IIRC.

If you take a road trip to WI AutoVentures mentioned they are at $80/hr IIRC
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83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[Wellington]

Cost of labour is one aspect.
Choose your ball joints carefully, too much crap on the market that prematurely wear out and you will be doing them again very shortly.

Lemforder were the gold standard, OEM with a proven track record.
T3 technique has his own that are getting great reviews.

Febi, the consensus is they are garbage.
Moog as well have gone to trash.
Spend the money on quality joints, cause the labour is going to be more, and you don't want to do it again next year.

[MarkWard]

There are conical bushings. Don't let the shop accidentally throw those out. They need to be swapped to the new ball joints and easy to miss.

I'd say 2 hours a side plus a 4 wheel alignment.
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☮️

[AndyBees]

I agree on finding high quality Ball Joints.

The Meyle brand ball joints that I installed were trashed in less than 50k miles as well as the other front suspension parts by that name brand.

Doing the job over is costly in a number of ways which should include an alignment.

FCP's parts listing info provides country of origin, but they do have a disclaimer statement.
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'84 Vanagon Tin-top, ALH TDI. 1989 Tin-top
1983 Air-cool, 225k miles, 180k miles mine. Seven trips to Alaska from 1986 thru 2003.

[Altoona]

Do you have cast or stamped lower arms? Cast are harder because you have to take the whole lower arm out to press the joints in/out.

[vanis13]

[do.dah]

If Christopher/t3 weighs in on this thread, he will probably recommend seeing Pete at;
https://www.mshopauto.com/
in Kirkland.

Pete is also a Synchro owner and a wealth of knowledge.

[Sodo]

[Microbusdeluxe]

Thanks for all the ideas. The garage in Seattle charged me $1,000 labor to do the job, so I guess given the info here that seems about right. I can't believe anyone owning one of these pays mechanics to do their work on a regular basis. I'd go broke quick if I didn't do most of my own wrenching!
_________________
'69 Squareback RIP
'65 21 window deluxe sold before the price spike, damn it.
'70 rhd bay now a taxi in South Sudan
'81 Westy sold
'89 hightop Westy Joker syncro 16" now with Bostig!

[vanis13]

[Microbusdeluxe]

Eion's Automotive on Westlake in Seattle.
_________________
'69 Squareback RIP
'65 21 window deluxe sold before the price spike, damn it.
'70 rhd bay now a taxi in South Sudan
'81 Westy sold
'89 hightop Westy Joker syncro 16" now with Bostig!

[vanis13]