Hey guys,

I checked out my u-joints with a mechanic friend and they were ok so he thought it might be the bearings in the differential. I took it to a reputable place locally and sure enough they said that the differential needed to be rebuilt. They are going to do a complete rebuild minus the gears and axles (unless they are to bad) they quoted me a start price of $1000 parts and labor. They said that the price would only increase if the gears and axles were to bad to re-use. Does this sound like an accurate cost for the repair by a professional shop? They also said that they have done a one or two that needed everything and that those two ran the bill up to $2000. I'm not being hosed am I? My buddy had his done through the dealer and when he was done he spent $3900 rearend only.

98' QC Sport 4x4, 5.2L
Flowmaster catback
BF Goodrich A/T's
K&N air intake
106,000 miles

 

That isn't too bad...i priced out just the replacement of the spyder gears when I first bought my truck and it was about $350 from the dealership. I ended up opting for a very low mileage replacement rearend from a salvage yard that a family friend works at. It was $700 for the rearend and that was by far the cheapest I could find. Most places wanted close to a grand for 80k plus rearends.

 

My rear end started whining at about 90k miles. Partly my fault, I ran with low fluid for a while, I should have checked it sooner. Anyway, took it to a shop by my house, they replaced the outer axle bearings and seals. The cost was about $370, that was labor, parts, and new fluid.

After the work was done, it still whined. The guy told me he would credit me 3 hours of labor, and the cost of the fluid, since he now had to go back in and change the pinion bearings. The additional cost was another $420, after the credit was deducted.

Long story short, I paid about $800 parts, labor, and fluid to replace all the bearings in the rear end. I thought that seemed kind of high, but maybe it's not so bad. The break down was about $500 for labor and $300 for parts.

 

hell for that price i would just find two 60's to through under there.

 

Last one I rebuilt ended up costing my about 300.00 bucks in parts for all bearing, seals and lube. I didn't replace any gears or axles. I can check at work and see how much we charge. 1000.00 seems kinda high but I don't know for sure. I just fix em I don't quote prices. I don't recommend doing yourself unless you have the proper equipment and experence. Although just replacing bearings and seals isn't too difficult it is a job that has to be done right to last.

 

IF you have some car knowledge and another car to drive for a few days I'd dig into it myself. It can always be a learning experiance. Between the FSM and a Chiltions I think you'd be gfod to go. Assuming you have most of the needed tools too [&:]

 

yeah i was about to say to just do it yourself. new bearings cant be anymore then 200 bucks right?? its really not hard at all taking an axle apart, its probally just putting it back together and getting everything setup right that will take the longest/hardest. thats why its always good to have a mechanical genius for a friend

 

if you have any kind of mechanical experience i would say do it yourself. i have done a few rearends in my day and never had any kind of problem. i wouldn't think that the new bearings would even cost $200. the chiltons or fsm should walk you through it step by step. you might have to press the bearings on i'm not sure. that would be my only concern, but i'm sure you can find access to one of those.

 

Master install kits are only right around $100. Come with all the bearings, seals, shims, ect. Everything you need.