front end rebuild kit

[rayfinseats]

front end rebuild kit for an 83 k10. Looked at LMC and JC whitney, I didn' t see a whole kit. Who sells a whole kit, ball joints, tie rods, etc? How much?

[Psycho71]

My advice. Go to a local supplier and get Moog parts for everything you can and do it once. Inferior parts on the front end of a 4x4 will not last long, especially if you plan on wheeling it much or run larger tires.

I'm not aware of a kit that will have everything. I got all of my parts individually when I did mine. If you find a kit, I'm sure we'd be interested in the source.

[TheWhiteElephant]

I just did all this to my '73 K20. I'm on a strict budget, but I also wanted the best parts available. Here's what I did: First I went to all the major auto parts websites to get prices on the highest quality components, namely, Moog.

Then I went to Rockauto.com and compared. There was absolutely NO comparison. Huge savings by going through Rockauto. Sometimes they also have wholesale closeouts for a lot less. I just ordered the drag link and front tie rods on Wednesday close to midnight and they were at my door by Friday.

I saved about $50-$60 on the Moog ball joints alone. I saved about $100 on the tie rods. There is also a lot of talk about Moog going overseas and TRW vs Moog vs etc. due to Federal Mogul buy-outs and TRW being the same thing as Moog now. The price difference between the TRW tie rods and the Moog tie rods was considerable on Rockauto. In the end I went with TRW and you know what? One of the TRW tie rods that was packaged as a TRW was actually a Moog part! They were also the wholesale closeouts.

Check it out...







Bottom line is you WILL save a lot of money going through Rockauto.com. I hate to sound like an ad for them, but they sure saved me some hard-earned money. There is more info on all this in my build thread if you want to take a gander.

[Hoods69BadBowTie]

Nice that's great to know I might have to check out there sight. Glad you took the time and spent the extra money on good parts so you only had to do it once. I always go with moog everything almost on the front end. Never had any major problems except when I ran cheap crap and it wore out and broke more often!

[rayfinseats]

Alignment shop estimate....$1200

Mechanic friend estimate with Moog parts. $550. Will go that route.

It kills me how big shops have huge buildings and huge overhead and then have to charge huge prices. But I understand.

I'll have to check out that rockauto.

[SoCal71K20]

Yeah, I'll second the Rock Auto route. That's how I gathered up my Moog parts. Good luck.

[rayfinseats]

Anyone make a high steer for a 10 bolt?

[Erik V]

I'm looking on RockAuto.com and not finding the long bar for the frontend? Or am I just blind?

My 71 Jimmy has a 73+ Dana44, and the lower left ball joint is dead, as are both tie rod ends. Looks like you cant press out the driver side one, you have to replace as I see you did in your pictures. Can you list the part number for that main bar since I'm failing at finding it?

Cant wait to get the wobbles out of this thing.

Thanks

Erik

(no wonder I posted this in the wrong thread first, same poster WhiteElephant)

[TheWhiteElephant]

Originally Posted by Erik V

I'm looking on RockAuto.com and not finding the long bar for the frontend? Or am I just blind?

My 71 Jimmy has a 73+ Dana44, and the lower left ball joint is dead, as are both tie rod ends. Looks like you cant press out the driver side one, you have to replace as I see you did in your pictures. Can you list the part number for that main bar since I'm failing at finding it?

Erik, the long tie rod is part number DS841. Be sure you get the right one, though. There is a difference between the older design vs. the newer design depending on the year of the axle assembly. Just look at the pictures to make sure you get the right one. One mounts from the top, the other one mounts from the bottom.

Long tie rod end, connects to the driver side spindle: DS841
Short tie rod end that connects to the long one in front, connects to the passenger side spindle: ES449L

The following two are for the drag link:
Tie Rod end pitman arm to steering arm (front): ES2026R
Tie Rod end pitman arm to steering arm (rear): ES2027L

The adjusting sleeve is the same for both: ES362S

[Erik V]

Thanks! I hate to ask for stuff on a silver platter, usually I can muddle my way through and figure things out. You just made my muddling much less painful.

I have the newer style axle, Dad bent the stock one when it was about a year old, and threw a locker in the 73/74 axle he bought. I asked him the other day if he remembers tearing it apart since then...and he said no. So I think ~38 years of off road racing/trail running/daily driver/moving-towing justifies a go-through.

Thanks again.

Erik

[muddnutz]

ORD makes one look them up