About three months ago I started hearing a strange *thump*thump*thump* sound when i turned right a bit. When I jacked the car up, we saw the spindle nut holding the rotor on was loose so we tightened it and the noise went away.

About two months later it came back and I decided it was the wheel bearings so I replaced both. Now yesterday the noise got so bad I drove it straight to a shop. The spindle nuts had come so loose that the rotor had over an inch of play and somehow the left front wheel bearing came completey out and trashed everything in the process. I went to the shop and saw the damages firsthand and I agree the parts I list below do in fact need to be replaced.

The mechanic quoted me $2,000 which would replace the wheel bearing, axle, rotor, pads, kunckle, and hub. Basically only the caliper survived. The thought of pouring $2,000 into this car is painful. Its a 97 with 125k miles and up until this has been reliable. I just dont know what to do. Is this price reasonable? He quoted something like $600 for a remanufactured axle and that seems high to me but I really dont know.

I know it was a bad idea to drive on it with that noise and I really do not need to be scolded for that any more than I have been, but I would truly appreciate feedback as to what I could do in this situation. The car currently is sitting at a shop but I havent authorized any work on it yet.

Thank you for your time and suggestions.

Derek Johnson

 

That sounds way to high. Reman axle would run about $80, new $125 unless you have some special axlethat I have never heard of. I would say if a shop did it you are probably looking in the area of $800 to $1200. I would say shop around. Also ask if they are adjusting for labor, I have found that some shops do not adjust labor hours for repairs in the same area. I.E. if your replacing the axle and it cost $60 and replacing brakes is $60, you would not pay $120 total, b/c they already had to remove most of the brake components out of the way.

 

dude, i hope he aint charging you to store it. you could probably look around on e-bay and see if you can find some of those parts cheaper. i bet you can, and ask him if he'll put them on if their outside parts. if not, ask him if you can use a used axle from a junkyard instead of new, probably a hell of a lot cheaper. he probably knows a junkyard with some of those parts, so work it out with him and keep the max. that mileage is too low to junk it. i got a 95 with 150,000 and i'll keep it until it dies, best car i ever had. good luck dude>> big b

 

you want to shop around they are trying to screw you and not give you the courtesty{spelling} reach around probably not more than $1250-1400

 

Well not that it will really matter, but I think I just figured out what initially caused this. When looking at the motorvate.ca tutorial for the axle, it shows a castle nut in front of the spindle nut. I do not have this castle nut and that is what let it get so loose. Not sure if that changes anything, but thought I would throw that out...

After hearing from you guys already, I know I need to go to another shop if hes trying to charge $600 for a $80 axle... This is just a nightmare.

 

Whenever cars immobile, crappy shops find it hard to resist to screw you. I would price it out with other shops (at least now you know what you need) and tow it to them if need be. Otherwise provide a detailed list here and we can tell you what's fair so you can negotiate.

 

you could fly me round trip to cali i can fix it and you can buy the parts and it would still be cheaper than 2k. tell ur mech to shove it. if he has a problem pm me and ill give u my cell number and tell him to call me.

 

Word. We are a family here...you try to screw one person...you screw everyone. 2k. I spent 2k on my entire suspension (changed EVERYTHING - front and rear - but the control arms) when I got my max. (Labor excluded since I have a lift and power tools and did everything myself). If I was in CA I'd help ya do it man. 6 hours of work and $600 in parts is what doing it yourself would cost you. Good luck bro.

 

Stay far away from that shop for any future issues with your car.....

 

Derek,
When you say "a shop" is it a Nissan Dealership or a generic shop? First of all the most expensive thing upfront you don't have to replace are the calipers if you had to replace them, then I could see it being "close" to $2000.00 I worked at a Nissan Dealership in the parts dept and we would use re-man axles all the time simply because OEM axles were too damn expensive. He is probably telling you they are OEM but believe me they won't be..thats the way they make their money unfortunatley. You can get crossdrilled rotors on ebay for a set (2) for 130.00 tops and seriously what are pads 55-65 bucks tops. I had my wheel bearing go out on me a lot and finally found out it was my hub that was causing it because where the bearing sat in the hub it was rubbing on an abrasion of some sort. Basically what im trying to say is, if your doing this now it would be a lot better to replace both hub and bearing...your looking around 220.00 for that...they are raping you in labor. What Mishmosh said is 100% true, you have a broken down car and they see it as they are your last hope and whatever they say you will go for...well they didn't think of entire website in your corner..shop around and I still have connections with parts if i can help please I.M. me..best of luck

 

my thoughts exactly

 

You can do this all yourself for less then $300.

 

I do not have any tools here especially not a press or impact wrench and as such doing it myself is not a choice. The parts alone will be more than $300 alone so I am not sure where you got that figure, but I appreciate the input anyways. Tomorrow I am going to call a few other shops to get quotes and ask the shop to explain how they are trying to get $600 for an axle that is offered at Courtesy Nissan for $118. Any other ideas guys?

 

you can always get the parts yourself and haev a shop install them.

 

Is that common practice? I always thought most shops wouldnt put on third party parts.

I will list the parts tomorrow and then hopefully get some input on where to get them cheaper. Again, appreciate the help, a $2,000 bill to a college student is deadly!

 

Ok lets see heres a price break down.
wheel bearing, kunckle, and hub you can buy used off an org member like myself for $60
axle $60 brand new remanufactured
rotor $50 brand new
pads$50 brand new
So thats $220
you won't need a press. An impact wrench is not needed as well but it makes the job easier.If the spindle was just off a few months ago then it should be very easy to take off again.

 

Would it be ok to replace them with used parts? If so, do you have those available? Thanks again.

 

So I called another mechanic who is going to find a used knuckle and hub and he quoted the total with labor at $750 out the door so I am going to do this. Thank you guys for your help and you saved me $1,250!

 

call that other guy and tell him to shove it please

 

He got the idea when I showed up with a tow truck. I will find out the final estimate later today.

 

I have a spindle with a good bearing in it ready to go, if you change your mind and want to do it your self and save your self another 500 over what they quoted you. Let me know if you are interested.

Also did you not have a cotter pin in your axle? If not that's dangerous, but at the same time if you are getting the axle nut tight enough (something like 200 pounds) then it sould never come off anyway.