Anybody replaced the tie rod ends and wheel bearings/seals on their car? How hard is the job and whats an estimate on the parts cost.

thanks,
matt

Matt. It can't be that bad. Call me .469-2236213.

I'm in the middle of a suspension rebuild and a few other things on my 94 daily driver. (tie rod ends, ball joints, ES bushings, installing grease fittings at all suspension pivots, engine mounts, tranny axle seals, shifter bushings, etc.)

Tie rod ends are easy. Remove and replace. Instructions in FSM or on se-r.net.

Found a front wheel bearing going bad while i had the front hubs off and decided to replace both sides. Old bearings have to be pressed out and new ones pressed in. Hub removal is straightforward, hardest part is removing the ball joints without messing up the dust boots. I replaced the ball joints, so that wasn't a problem for me. Machine shop (or local parts place that has a machine shop, $35 for both sides) can do the bearing removal and install. Then just reinstall the front hub and get an alignment.

Don't remember the costs right off hand (been gathering parts for several months). Seems like the bearings and seals were ~$50/side from Courtesy. Tie rod ends were part of a rebuild kit from suspension.com

A word of warning: I got jacked by a machinist when I had my wheel bearings done. I dropped off the knuckle assemblies along with brand new OEM bearings, and when I installed them on the car they had a ton of play.

After a lot of arguing and finger pointing I gave in and had a different shop do the whole wheel bearing job (previous shop blamed me for screwing up the install). Long story short, the hubs were bad as well, which ruined my new bearings once I drove on them. Ended up costing me twice the price of getting them installed by a pro in the first place.

Moral? Make sure the machinist isn't a monkey.

Good point on the machine shop. The place i used specializes in foreign cars and has been in business for >20 years. I have used the machine shop a few times for Triumph and VW work in the past, with a good track record. Cheaper than using the local dealer and i had more confidence in them than Bubba's machine shop that may have been a few dollars cheaper.