The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post - 78 C20 - Front End Rebuild

Dead Parrot · 01-27-2018, 09:59 AM

Take it to a good shop and tell them what you want done and that you are planning on keeping the truck for a long time, otherwise you may get a "just get it somewhat safe" bid based on you trading the truck off in a little while. A lot of folks want the minimum work bid and a shop may make that assumption on a 40 year old vehicle.

I did that with my 75 years ago and they did ask the "How long are you keeping the truck?" question. About $700 later, it drove like a new truck with the steering wheel straight. They replaced upper and lower bushings, ball joints, a couple of tie rods, sway bar bushings and a broken sway bar bracket and aligned it. Dropped it off on way to work, picked up that evening after work. Don't know what parts they used but several years later, everything is still tight and good.

If you have a tilt column, those 3 screws in the bottom inside under all the guts can cause a lot of slop if loose.

01-27-2018, 09:59 AM	#3
Dead Parrot Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 2,479	Re: 78 C20 - Front End Rebuild - Advice Please Take it to a good shop and tell them what you want done and that you are planning on keeping the truck for a long time, otherwise you may get a "just get it somewhat safe" bid based on you trading the truck off in a little while. A lot of folks want the minimum work bid and a shop may make that assumption on a 40 year old vehicle. I did that with my 75 years ago and they did ask the "How long are you keeping the truck?" question. About $700 later, it drove like a new truck with the steering wheel straight. They replaced upper and lower bushings, ball joints, a couple of tie rods, sway bar bushings and a broken sway bar bracket and aligned it. Dropped it off on way to work, picked up that evening after work. Don't know what parts they used but several years later, everything is still tight and good. If you have a tilt column, those 3 screws in the bottom inside under all the guts can cause a lot of slop if loose.