Josette211

I have a 94 ls400. It needs a good deal of work. I have ordered the inner and outer tie rods, rack and pinion and the front and back completely strut assembly. I've been in situations because I'm a female mechanics charge higher like we don't know. I know that an alignment has to be done as well. I'm waiting on the ball joints to come in still. But looking into labor costs it def shouldn't be more than $1000.00 correct?

dicer

It will depend on who's doing it. Since your supplying the parts, it should be a bit less maybe. And how are the upper control arms and struts, have they been replaced? There are ball joints in the upper control arms as well as the lower ones that I think your talking about. They need to make sure the steering pump is flushed good and is it leaking at all? What about the steering hoses, how old are they? You need to find the right mechanic to get all things sorted out and not break the bank.

cgawelko

Well lets see. 2.7 hours for rack and pinion - Inner is 3.1 hours per side (so 6.2) - 1.7 hours for both outers including doing the toe angles - 0.9 hours for ball joints - 1.3 hours for front suspension not including alignment - 2.9 hours for rear both sides without air suspension.

So you are talking... 15.7 hours of work. Depending on the shop rate depends on how much lube you will want... If shop rate is $50/hr (which is CHEAP) you are looking 785 before any taxes of BS they tack on.

RA051823

Plan on shop rate being closer to $70-80 an hour. If you live in a big city it is probably more. Good luck!

cgawelko

If you look around on here - im sure there are some members in your area that like makin a little extra cash and would do it for a FRACTION of shop cost. Hell, if you were around me id do it all for $300-$400 including the alignment - assuming you provided all the parts.

RA051823

And a enthusiast is more inclined to do a better job too!

How would you do the alignment though. Would you bring it in somewhere?

cgawelko

Yes of course. I can set toe angle in the driveway thats not a problem. Camber/caster adjustment I personally will not do on my own just for safety reasons but I know an enthusiast that likes to undercut the big business and he is one of those old time dead set in his ways kind of guy. $50 an axle and he doesnt do appointments. Drive in and get it done - if he is busy wait or come back later. There is always a wait lol but he is the only guy who will do lowered cars.

dicer

For toe

The bar needs to be shorter so it won't hit the car. And you need to know the car is level to use this.

cgawelko

Easier way to do toe is to set a piece of tape in the tread in the same spot on both tires, on the front and rear. Measure from back of tire to back of tire, front to front. and then back to frame on both sides and then see which is off and adjust. More than likely both are the same distance from the frame so you 1/4 the difference and make that change on the tie rods and measure again. I was running 2.5" of toe and was eating tires like a SOB until I learned how to do it. I got sick of buying tires.

dicer

Unless the tread runs out some. And you are not centering the dimensions very well that way depending on the area of unibody you check at, its an okay quick check but not for setting it. And using pins stuck in the tread is more accurate, but you need to roll the car front and back so the pins are at front of tire then at the back they are always in the same position in the tire and you would want them rolling up towards the fenders of course.

cgawelko

Well I used a tread line - the Proxes +4 have that straight line in the tread, thats what I used to guide my tape measurer. so I hooked the metal into the tread part and taped it and passed the tape measurer under and measured to that same verticle line in the tread. its a good way to dial it in - my toe is dead on nuts now but my camber is wonked and im about to do that in the garage too because I am tired of front camber wear.

dicer

Camber, yeah I don't think an align shop can do it right on an LS, I think they all are dialing in lots of positive camber, I've done that with a square off the floor for quick check, bubble or like video is better though. How are you getting the car high enough to get under it to adjust stuff?

cgawelko

I put a small jack under, then jack it up with a big jack (small one is so the big one fits) and then I slide tires under the frame and then I slide my fat **** down there and get to work.

dicer

What would work good is a pit in the floor, its best to keep the tires on the ground and loaded like when driving down the road. If a person does not have turn tables then a greased floor tile works, that's for using a caster camber gauge. If a person can't have it setting on the tires to adjust it would take lots of up and down to get it, each time it has to be rolled to settle the suspension too.

So what happened to the original poster? They get lost or forget about it?