Inspection Woes

I have a question? Is it normal for an idler arm to wear out in 10 months? See i had the ol hog in for inspection today and she can not be passed till i have the following done before:Front shocks ,idler arm, wheel alignment. He installed the 4wd switch and oil sending unit. That was 45/Pep boys is doing front shocks and alignment for 173 and when he gets it back he told me 20 bucks for idler arm then 15 for exhaust pipe then about 45 for labor so im like wow/ He did tell me one thing going for me is that the engine is solid and there is no mechanical problems but that suspension stuff got me mad. Does any know how hard to do the idler arm or where its located? I searched forums but can not seem to come up with it. He told me in my accident probally screwed up alignment, freeze thaw and the originality of the shocks made them go, and idler arm he said probally cheap part. Any info would be cool. After that he will sticker me up.

Your idler arm may be good, a lot of them get replaced because they don't know it is suppose to move. It can move 1/8 inch in each direction (1/4 inch total deflection).

Here's a pic:
http://198.208.187.182/servlet/com.entigo.acdelcocatalog.servlet.ProcessImageServ let?languagecd=EN&countrycd=US&user=InternetUser&mfgname=ACDELCO&prodlinecd=45&acpartnbr=45C1043

I'm not sure how hard it is on a 91, but mine (98) was pretty simple. Here's a description for a 98, yours should be very similar. I think all I used was an 18mm socket, 18mm wrench and a pickle fork (tie rod separator). It is bolted to the passenger side frame rail, right behind the radiator. And the stud goes through the centerlink. (the bar between the two inner tie rod ends) It's a pretty straight forward job.

ok. He told me it had a ton of play. They could not align the front end at Pep boys idle arm shot and power steering pump shot. i dont know about pump because my mechanic did not say anything about. thanks