Front end rebuild costs
 

My '85 300TD (wagon) has never been rebuilt. It's wearing the tires on the inner (mostly) and outer edges in less than a year. Plus there is a noticeable clunk coming from the wheel wells when hitting bumps.

I see the parts cost ~ $600.00.

What is the ball park cost for labor if I go to an indy?

I'm going to guess around $800 for labor.

Scott

My local indy won't allow me to bring in my own parts "to ensure the quality of the parts used in the job," but presumably so he can keep the 30-50% markup over Phil or other online suppliers (which is why several jobs that I originally intended to pay to have done ended up getting done by me!)

Cheap parts can be had for around $250 on Ebay. There were 2 sellers selling Front End Kits.
I bought 1 kit and put it on on mine. All the parts in the kit were URO brand that their website claims can be made anywhere in the world. However, not one of the parts was marked with the country they were made in.

It has only been 6 months since I did the front end; not long enough to tell how long the job will hold up.

The job is reasonably straight forward to do.
You might check some of the DIYs on this job.
You will need a Coil Spring Compressor for this job and something to press the Ball Joints off and on.
Unexpected problem; some Members found that the tip of their Front Sway Bars to be rusted completely off. There is a repair sleeve for this sold above in the parts section. If you are paying someone to do the job the repair will cost extra.

But considering the amount of work, why risk using questionable parts?

It sounds unlikely that you'd get a refund if the parts last less than expected.

Go ahead and tear down your front end, and replace the parts that are bad, and leave the others, its a good way to save $$$. Your clunking is 1 of 2 things. Lower ball joints, or upper control arm bushings. Your tires wearing unevenly seems like to me, the wheel bearings are loose or the upper control arm bushings being bad are letting the tire position itself at various angles, instead of straight up and down. I just did mine and could have easily spent $3-400. I realized that my upper ball joint in the aluminum control arm was in fantastic condition, and I decided "Why buy an entire control arm?" So I bought 2 inner bushings, and 2 sway bar bushings... good as new! I also purchased 2 lower ball joints and installed them myself using a hydraulic press. I had one bad tie rod end, the rest were great. So I bought one. Lastly, I got new shocks all around. Cost me about $150 total, and my front end feels totally new. No clunks, squeaks, chatters, or play.... anywhere!! Moral of the story is, dont lay down wads of cash unless your front end is really shot, especially with the way the economy is..... Unless your bank account is stuffed full....lol

it would cost much more than 800 in labor

Uro Parts are not just sold by Ebay they are sold by other parts dealers too.
As far as taking a risk goes my labor is free and I have been buying the least expensive parts for my vehicles since 1969. Sure ounce in a while you get something that is poor quality but you have to expect that to happen sometimes.
And, who knows where the Brand Name parts are made anyway. I bought a Thermostat for my Volvo. The box said Made in Iseral! Yet, when I looked at the Thermostat it had Made in Germany on it.

My thought is that bad things happen to these cars very fast; if I spend alot of money buying the top quality parts and the Vacuum Pump falls apart and starts that "Chain Reaction" and I ruin an Engine or I get into a car accident the extra expense is for not.

around $1000 for a complete rebuild if you do it yourself. My brother spent about $1000 to rebuild his whole front end rubber, suspension and steering parts. I ended up doing all the work for him so he got away cheap.

If you were to pay someone it would be at least $2000 with parts price markup and labor

I'd find out what is wrong and change the bad stuff. I had clunking but it was guide rod bushings and one big grommet. Cost me $150 and front end is now quiet. Some guys do the whole front end but I just wanted to fix the noise. The fellow said all the other stuff was in good order. Find a good indy who knows the cars, U can save money that way.

I know someone who just did a full front end rebuild on a 240D with 4 Bilstein shocks for $1,800 to include parts and labor.

Why do you say it would be much more?

Scott