idler arms

I just had my 2002 AWD in for regular maintenance and was told that my idler arms are about to fall off. They don't look too bad to me. Plus they only have about 60,000 km on them and about a year and a half. I asked the dealer the ultimate question: "how much?" He came back with a quote of $1200. So I went to my local Napa store and got a parts quote there, $128 each. I guess you know which route I am going! The guy at the Napa store also told me that the design of these idler arms are poor and they will have some loose after a couple of months.

How much loose is normal? And, how hard is this to change myself? I really don't want to spend $1200 if I don't have too. I don't feel any difference in steering and handling, so should I worry about this?

Thanks!

I have a 2002 astro van, not all wheel drive but I think the idler armes are probably the same as on an all wheel drive.
They are not hard at all to replace, and $1,200 is way too much money to replace them, I think I would look for another mechanic that don't overcharge for his services.

The idler arms are bolted to the frame with two bolts, remove those bolts and take the nut off of where the idler arm fastens to the control arm bushing then replace them in reverse order.

If you grasp the idler arm and push/pull up and down at the connection to the center link, in a perfect world, there should be no movement. Any movement directly affects toe in, which is the biggest tire wear adjustment in front end alignment. If you decide to replace the arms: The bolt holes through the frame that the arms attach to, are slightly larger than the attaching bolts. This is for adjusting the idler arm to the proper position. The outer tie rod end holes in the center link, need to be the same distance to the frame on each end.

The idler arm wears quickly on these vehicles causing handling and alignment problems but shouldn't be a safety concern on one as young as yours. I changed the one on my wife's GM after 210,000 miles. She said she didn't notice the handling problems but I did after driving it for the first time in over a year.Took me about an hour, $1,200 bucks is a rip off and you should ask for a written quote so you can turn the jerks in to what ever authorities you have over seeing consumer protection in Canada.

Here's a pic of her's, she didn't even notice the problem until I changed it out. http://www.geocities.com/ericn1300/idlerA.jpg

I have c hange these on my 90 astro, its not that hard. LIke they said a couple of bolts and tap it off. 1200bux? wow what a ripoff. And I dont know what kind of stores you have there b ut check out like auto value, advance auto, they might be more since your vechicle is 12yrs newer then mine. I just put one on my 86, and tie rods and a stabilizer bar, heck it was easy. And saved big time money. Just make sure you have a can of "PB Blaster", I never start a project without it!!!