For yall with big(ger) tires.

[O'Rattlecan]

So what exactly were the symptoms and how did you know the o-rings were the culprit?

lower gas mileage was about the only real symptom other than the other one that helped me diagnose it. The thing would hiss and pop, but I couldn't hear it until immediately after I shut the truck off, then it was quiet enough for me to hear the air leaking.

I don't know that the o-rings were the culprit other than the actual fuel pressure regulator. I just replaced the whole thing.

Ryan

 

[godblessmud]

grrrr
just got quoted 2600 bucks out the door to regear to 4.88s. course thats with a Tru Trac rear locker the guy assumed id want, which i dont because im planning on doing a Lincoln Locker front and an Aussie Locker in the rear at a later date.
Im waitin on a revised estimate with the locker out of the picture but it still aint looking good..

 

[Skandocious]

WHOA!!!! Dude why so much? Did you ask for an itemized quote? A 4.88 regear requires no more parts nor labor than my regearing did, and I paid $1500 WITH a trac-loc in the rear. And I believe I even overpaid a bit because I got good service. I HIGHLY suggest you look elsewhere, that quote is MUCH too high.

 

[eco]

grrrr
just got quoted 2600 bucks out the door to regear to 4.88s. course thats with a Tru Trac rear locker the guy assumed id want, which i dont because im planning on doing a Lincoln Locker front and an Aussie Locker in the rear at a later date.
Im waitin on a revised estimate with the locker out of the picture but it still aint looking good..

Uhhhh, Tru Trac is a really nice unit, probably the best out there aside from the Detroit Locker.

Why wouldnt you do the gears and lockers you want at the same time???

 

[Skandocious]

Why wouldnt you do the gears and lockers you want at the same time???

Agreed... Doesn't make any sense to do the carriers LATER after the gear swap is done... You'd have to dissemble the entire differential again to replace the carriers. If you're going to do lockers do them now. If you wanna run the lines for air lockers later you can always do that too.

 

[godblessmud]

Do we have a moneybag smilee on here? hmm guess not. imagine one here.

ima load the estimte its a PDF if i can findout hang on..i may have to prntscrn it

 

[godblessmud]

we'll see...yea Chris, i was thinking it would be like 1500ish...

Another SOB at a different shop wanted 1600 PER AXLE! I told him precisly where to put those differentials and what to do with them while they were there!

 

[Skandocious]

we'll see...yea Chris, i was thinking it would be like 1500ish...

Another SOB at a different shop wanted 1600 PER AXLE! I told him precisly where to put those differentials and what to do with them while they were there!

Damn dude you're gettin' corn holed out there... I got quotes from a few different places and $1500 was the HIGHEST quote. I only chose the shop because they could turn it around in a day and they used factory parts.

 

[godblessmud]

clicka the linka

 

[godblessmud]

Scratch that last one

follow this link for itemized estimate they gave me
http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gearestimatemk3.png

 

[Skandocious]

Hmm... Yeah all the parts look pretty fairly priced, if not a BIT on the high side... But the Tru Trac and the labor rates are outrageous... I'm not sure what a Tru Trac goes for but I do know I only paid $310 for my Ford Trac-Loc (actually $210 after he discounted it). You're paying $510!!

And my labor was $350 for the front, and $400 for the rear with the locker... Your labor is $560 for the rear (w/ locker) and $630 for the front with open carrier? Why is the front more expensive!?

What concerned me most is those time frames. Says it'll take him 8 hours for the rear R&P + carrier install (not counting seals and bearings), and 9 hours for the front... WTF?! My guy turned my truck around in the same day. I dropped it off at around 8 or 9am and picked it up around 4pm... Thats 7-8 hours TOTAL... Your guy is showing 17.5 hours for the diffs + wheel bearings and seals... Thats outrageous, tell him thanks but no thanks. Show him a copy of my quote up there if you'd like, so he knows he's overcharging.

Grr, he even had the balls to charge you $50 for gear oil... I don't know if my guy tossed that into my labor rates but he sure didn't have the balls to list it on my receipt... Seems to me it's a big overkill to be using Mobil 1 oil since you have to change it after 500 miles anyways. At 500 miles the oil hasn't really lost much of its integrity.

Thats my .02

 

[godblessmud]

I hear ya there. The price difference in front is because it needs a 3.93-up carrier...not sure why its so expensive since thats a $59 peice on bronco graveyard...
Im rapidly running out of shops 'round here lol. If i tell them all to **** themselves i may be waiting till summer afterall..but good lord 2600 is more than the lift and tires combined!

 

[Skandocious]

I hear ya there. The price difference in front is because it needs a 3.93-up carrier...not sure why its so expensive since thats a $59 peice on bronco graveyard...
Im rapidly running out of shops 'round here lol. If i tell them all to **** themselves i may be waiting till summer afterall..but good lord 2600 is more than the lift and tires combined!

The labor rate doesn't include the cost of the carrier... That listed as "d44 30 spline std case 3.92 up" and the price shows $62.98... And it doesn't require any more work to install the new carrier since he has to remove it anyways to install the ring & pinion... My guy had to the do the same thing, check my quote up there. He charged a new open carrier ($44.94).

 

[godblessmud]

Quote up where?

And so the guy removed the locker and basically just subtracted the cost of the unit to 2100 bucks.. I think NOT! 17 hours of labor...i could do it in less half assing it all the way!

 

[Skandocious]

Quote up where?

I posted a picture of my receipt up earlier in this thread, from when I got my gears swapped.. Maybe you missed it, here it is again:

See post #19 in this thread for more details about my gear swap.

 

[godblessmud]

Ahh i see, my computer only decides to load pictures maybe 40% of the time so i didnt even see it eariler...

I havnt responded to that feller yet but i may borrow your receipt to guage his reaction...
But its lookin more and more like i'l be callin in some favors with some friends to help me install gears...not that any of us have time for that! cause for like 600ish bucks i can get the ring/pinions, carriers, (a posi rear to boot) from broncograveyard..DAMNIT I REALLY DIDNT WANT TO HAVE TO DO GEARS!!
lol

 

[flareside_thunder]

You may not have wanted to do it but it as well as rebuilding automatic trannies x-cases and manuals is getting to be a lost art...why do you think Chris got robbed?lol good job security if you know how to do it.....

JR

 

[eco]

Hmm... Yeah all the parts look pretty fairly priced, if not a BIT on the high side... But the Tru Trac and the labor rates are outrageous... I'm not sure what a Tru Trac goes for but I do know I only paid $310 for my Ford Trac-Loc (actually $210 after he discounted it). You're paying $510!!

And my labor was $350 for the front, and $400 for the rear with the locker... Your labor is $560 for the rear (w/ locker) and $630 for the front with open carrier? Why is the front more expensive!?

What concerned me most is those time frames. Says it'll take him 8 hours for the rear R&P + carrier install (not counting seals and bearings), and 9 hours for the front... WTF?! My guy turned my truck around in the same day. I dropped it off at around 8 or 9am and picked it up around 4pm... Thats 7-8 hours TOTAL... Your guy is showing 17.5 hours for the diffs + wheel bearings and seals... Thats outrageous, tell him thanks but no thanks. Show him a copy of my quote up there if you'd like, so he knows he's overcharging.

Grr, he even had the balls to charge you $50 for gear oil... I don't know if my guy tossed that into my labor rates but he sure didn't have the balls to list it on my receipt... Seems to me it's a big overkill to be using Mobil 1 oil since you have to change it after 500 miles anyways. At 500 miles the oil hasn't really lost much of its integrity.

Thats my .02

A Truetrac will usually go for about $450.

17.5 hours does not sound far off at all and anyone that has done this job knows it. If you replace carriers and gears, the shims are definetly going to need to be redone and that is where all the time goes. If you go for a perfect wear pattern and back lash, then 17.5 actually seems low. If you guess on the shims and stick with whatever the outcome is then the job may take closer to 7 hours. Getting the back lash and wear pattern set consists of assembling the differential, putting a marking compound on the gears, turning the pinion and looking at the marking compound to see how the gears mesh. If the marks are not perfectly centered (they never are the first time), then tear it all back down and start over. Check the back lash with a dial indicator too and take that reading into account when selecting the shims. Plan on two or three complete tear downs and build ups (at least) per differential. I had mine apart five times and I was into my 8.8 for probably 20 hours - but I also had to do some machine work on the axles. When I worked at a Chrysler/Jeep dealership they charged about 8 hours per differential rebuild on a Jeep.

 

[Skandocious]

A Truetrac will usually go for about $450.

17.5 hours does not sound far off at all and anyone that has done this job knows it. If you replace carriers and gears, the shims are definetly going to need to be redone and that is where all the time goes. If you go for a perfect wear pattern and back lash, then 17.5 actually seems low. If you guess on the shims and stick with whatever the outcome is then the job may take closer to 7 hours. Getting the back lash and wear pattern set consists of assembling the differential, putting a marking compound on the gears, turning the pinion and looking at the marking compound to see how the gears mesh. If the marks are not perfectly centered (they never are the first time), then tear it all back down and start over. Check the back lash with a dial indicator too and take that reading into account when selecting the shims. Plan on two or three complete tear downs and build ups (at least) per differential. I had mine apart five times and I was into my 8.8 for probably 20 hours - but I also had to do some machine work on the axles. When I worked at a Chrysler/Jeep dealership they charged about 8 hours per differential rebuild on a Jeep.

So how was my guy able to turn mine around on the same day with no complications? Haven't had any gear howl or chatter either. And he didn't get luck, he told me he'd have it turned around same day BEFORE I dropped it off... Either way, that quote sounds way too high. As I said before, I got quotes from several different places and the shop that I took my truck to (River City) ended up being the MOST expensive. I think the others were closer to $1300.

 

[eco]

So how was my guy able to turn mine around on the same day with no complications? Haven't had any gear howl or chatter either. And he didn't get luck, he told me he'd have it turned around same day BEFORE I dropped it off... Either way, that quote sounds way too high. As I said before, I got quotes from several different places and the shop that I took my truck to (River City) ended up being the MOST expensive. I think the others were closer to $1300.

No gear noise? That isn't what you said before.

"Well as soon as I had to pull my foot off of the accelerator (to let the truck coast down a hill), I heard grinding/humming noise coming from somewhere in the front end. It stays for a second or two then it goes away. But as soon as I step on the accelerator it comes back for 1-2 seconds and goes away again. Then repeats if I take my foot back off --- etc etc."

"I'm thinking either a bad u-joint somewhere or possible (ahhhh!!!) the guy that did my gears recently setup the front pinion wrong. "

Obviously, I can't speak for the shop you went to, but they definetly didn't do much trial and error with the wear pattern and back lash. The old shims probably got them close enough to where they needed to be and they let it go that way. They must have planned on doing that from the get go and that explains their same-day-turn-around prediction going into the project. Where you live there is probably enough low balling competition offering cheap work and thus everone must offer lower prices to be competitive and stay in business - thats just the market where you live (speculation of course).