1996 V6 4X4 - 4Runner Repair Question

[tKc123]

Alright, so today I was driving to get breakfast and while I was pulling into a parking spot my front driver side ball joint snapped, putting my wheel into my wheel well, felt like i went through a 2m deep pot hole (coffee was everywhere). Anyways I took it to Canadian tire and they sent me a list of what is now broken because of the joints snapping.
(Labor there is $97.00/hr)

• Left front lower Control Arm - 3.5hrs
• Front sway bar link (Both) - .6hrs
• Left front upper ball joints - 1.1hrs
• Left outer tire rod - 2.2hrs
• Left front axle assembly - .9hrs
• Two brake hoses - 2hrs
• Left front break plate - .9hrs

Anyways the total for parts is $652 , Labor is $1115
All together its $2100.00 for everything with tax

My main question is, is it worth it on a 1996 4Runner that is otherwise in good shape with 225K. I might be able to do it on my own with help from a buddy and guessing its gunna be around $750 with everything. Also any tips on fixing this mess on my own, i kinda know trucks but i would need my buddies help to fix this, but any tips would help.

[kball]

This is getting to be way to common. On our older runners the lower ball joint and the pink milkshake (trans cooler in radiator fails and mixes coolant and trans fluid) are the two most common failures.

Check this link, the newest I've seen but there are several.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...es-inside.html

The list of parts they are replacing sounds right. As far as price...?? Do it yourself? Maybe but you need a press from what I've heard to do the upper ball joint. I haven't done them before so I can't say how tough they are to replace.

I replaced my lowers as preventative maintenance when I put my lift on.

Good luck and I'm glad no one got hurt. I've read about maybe 10 of these happening and all but one were slow speed failures. One was high speed and it was not pretty.