Southern California - shop(s) that can re-build my front end

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rms492

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Hello, does anyone know a good place that can re-build my Mopar A-body's front end? I have all the parts (ball joints, bushings, tie rods, etc.).
(NEW parts, purchased from NAPA).
I don't have the skill or tools or time to take such a project.

Looking for a shop in the Los Angeles/Orange County area, preferably San Gabriel Valley. Someone that specializes in Mopar suspensions.

Thanks

rMS out
 
its really not that hard. its actually a pretty primitive suspension set up. I would do it myself. you could take the upper and lower control arms to the local autoparts/machine shop and have them press out and press in the new bushings. everything else is a bolt in affair. I had mine torn down and put back ready for re-alingment in one day.
 
younggun2.0 said:
its really not that hard. its actually a pretty primitive suspension set up. I would do it myself. you could take the upper and lower control arms to the local autoparts/machine shop and have them press out and press in the new bushings. everything else is a bolt in affair. I had mine torn down and put back ready for re-alingment in one day.
Click to expand...

XS2 , its so easy i would never pay a shop labor just to do what you can do in your driveway on a weekend. there is nothing to a torsion bar front end.
 
okay cool I'll try it, I guess I need to take some time off from work.
 
I agree its really simple to do in a weekend in your driveway or garage the ball joints might give you a small issue but a BFH will solve that
 
Hey man - I had some experience with conventional coil-sprung Ford front ends, but was very hesitant about tackling my Scamp. I took my time and made sure I did things methodically and everything turned out fine.

There are no special tools required other than a press - I have a small one, and did all the bushings myself. If you don't have one, run them down to a mechanic and get them to press the old ones out and the new ones in.

I see reference on these forums to a ball joint removal tool - I clamped the upper arm in a bench vice and turned the BJ out with a pipe wrench.
 
I'm not quite SoCal, but it's a job that I have done for others. I thoroughly clean the parts (hot tank), bead blast, and paint...
 
Most all quality shops ABSOLUTELY HATE to use customer supplied parts. They do not know the quality of parts you have. So if you got the wrong parts shipped to you or the shop can see the parts are defective, they can not just call thier parts supplier and have another replacement part delivered within a few hours.

The shop has some warranty implied with a normal job and if YOUR supplied parts fail it's on them. So a shop will write the invoice with all kind of clauses that there is no warranty on customer supplied parts. With all the wacky stuff the B.A.R. (Bureau of Automotive Repair) does nowadays, there's still a chance a shop could get screwed. Nowdays there's still a chance to get nailed from the B.A.R.

In the end, almost all shops will increase the labor billed to the customer to cover the lost profit and chances using customer parts. You just will not noticed it as a customer.

If you aren't going to do the work on something with common parts store parts, just let the shop get the parts. A front end job or brake job is meat and potatoes work (undercar work). Now for something that take wierd parts that would come from Year One or Classic Industries, etc most shops would rather the customer deal with the parts.
 
I agree a front end rebuild is not really difficult. It does however require special tools and safety precautions for someone that has not done the work before. Then when done, it will still require a trip to the front end alignment shop.

Pick your poison due it yourself or pay a shop. Sometimes paying a shop to do a job is a smart move. I think it really comes down to what are the end results your expecting. If it's a driver and you don't care if the remaining parts are cleaned and painted I recommend just paying a shop to handle the job. I'm guessing $400 to 600 without parts for bushings, ball joints, pittman, idler arms, tie rod ends replacement and alignment.

If you want everything cleaned and painted looking nice. You have some time to build some special tools or buy them. Like torsion bar removers, bushing press tools, along with purchasing a ball joint socket. Then do the job yourself.

Be warned that in addition to the tools I already mentioned you should have a stocked garage with the normal stuff like a vice, jack, jack stands, air compressor and some air tools are also nice for a job like this.

Some of these members make it sound like changing a tire, it's so easy. Well it's not really that easy the first time around if you don't have the right tools.
 
I doubt you can get the labor for as little as $600. Labor will likely be at least $1k. The last friend I had pay somebody to do a Mopar front end, it cost him $1,800 with parts. I told him he should have called me...
 
I could do it. Don't have any alignment stuff available right now.

I'm not really close, Indio, CA
 
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