Just trying to get some feedback from those who have changed out their final drive on the price they paid for the labor. I think this is something a little beyond my technical ability. AAMCO quoted me $750 so let me know if that is about right. Thanks guys.

 

dayum... Just buy a pumpkin...

 

lol i usually do the install myself. but this last time i took it to a shop as i lost one of the spacers due to pressing the gear out and there were about 50 other shims on the floor. i paid 180 for my install

 

I paid around $200 for mine, thats with me doing the removal and just handing the 3rd member to the shop.

 

will vary depending on what they charge per hour and their skill level

to drop the pumpkin, swap the gears/bearings, adjust as needed and reinstall is roughly a 5 hour job

 

I did mine myself for around $500 total (parts and my labor) 4.083 ring and pinion, new pinion seal. Used my original crush sleeve, did not have to adjust anything at all. Took me a couple of days because I took my time. So far it's held up great. I've even taken it to the strip since then.

 

My local shop wants to charge 2k to install a 4:08 gear with NISMO LSD.. seems like a lot. I wouldn't be doing anything but dropping the car off, which is all that I am really good for, TBH. lol. Any thoughts..

 

$700-800 is what i've been quoted for LSD and Gears if I drop off the pumpkin and necessary parts (less the shims)

 

soo why such a large variance in price?.. the Shop is a very well known and active contributor here.. They seems to have a good reputation as well

 

you reused the crush collar? that's scary

be prepared to do your pinion bearings in the future

 

Holy crap thats expensive. I could see that if you handed them the car.


Best way to find a driveline shop, local 3/8 oval and drag strip, see who everybody uses. Plenty of shops in Vegas, but you have to google to find them, if you ask a racer, they all go to the same shop.

 

we should have a sticky for affordable/reputable shops in select areas.

 

Screw it man, just get an UpRev tune for that price...

 

unless that includes something you're not telling that price is insanely high unless they are going by the book quoted time and get a premium amount per hour.

 

Honestly, I wish I knew how to do it myself. I try to do everything myself.

Everything here seems expensive, but Vegas can't be any cheaper.

I'll continue to thumb through the yellow pages. Even all the local dealerships around here won't touch it.

$700 / 5 hours = $140 /hr. Maybe I should change careers.

 

VT, who did it for you?

 

A ring and pinion by itself can be quoted at ~ 4-5 hours. If you're adding the LSD into it, it can take longer as there is more to do

Also depends on what bearings are/are not being changed, etc

Overall to do an LSD, ring and pinion and all new bearings and seals, you're looking at about an ~8 hour job including removal/reinstall of the pumpkin. It's also quite tedious as far as setting up the clearances for everything, so it's not exactly a 'fun' 8 hours either. If that's what they are basing their hours on, it's in the ballpark. Some places may be more, some places may be less.

The suggestion to find a circle track shop is def good - truck places also. Keep in mind though many of these places will not touch this type of rear as they may not have the tools necessary to clearance it properly. These are relatively large ring and pinions for import cars, but they are very small compared to many American cars.

Back in 2005 I had my diff changed to a Cusco - car was still very new so I left the bearings alone and just changed the side seals and ring gear bolts. I paid $150 IIRC. This shop had always done our transmission related stuff and they were very familiar with setting up gear sets on drag cars, off road trucks, etc. I brought it back to them when I did my first gear set, a 3.9. Dropped it off..got a call an hour later that he didn't have the tools to do and pick it back up. Found another local place to do it..took him literally a full day to complete and cost me either $500 or $600 in labor best I recall.

 

would you consider a pumpkin swap? is there an option out there?

i drive an at and swapped to 3.5 for free as an FI'd mt wanted my 3.3.

arguably the best thing ever done to my car and it was... $0

 

I'm in Hawaii, and my buddy and I just pulled my third member, I took it to a tuning shop and they really didn't seem like they wanted to deal with it, or had all the necessary tools to do it. Ya gotta realize, diffs deal with a lot of force, and those bearings are REALLY ON those gears. My buddy decided he would try to pull my bearings without breaking them...wasn't gonna happen. Long story short, he found a 4 wheel shop that does gears and diffs every day of the year. So we took it to them, and all I'm waiting on is a new crush collar. So...my costs are @ $200 for side and pinion bearings IIRC, $23 for a crush collar, and $280 for the install. Total of $500 for parts and labor, in addition to my OS Giken Diff, and 4.083 gears of course. 2K sounds ridiculously high. Again, these prices will depend on how easy this job is for the shop (in other words, how many of these things do they do on a day to day basis?), and what new bearings/seals/spacers/shims or whatever else do you have to pay for? Just somethin to think about when you're getting quotes.

Personally, I think you'd be best going with a circle track or truck shop like Z1 said.

 

I got an appt w/ Frank mid July. That man is a busy guy. I might take that entire day off to go hang out with him. Maybe pick up on a few things. The other shops wanted me to buy all the shims up front. On top of that, the two local dealerships I called wouldn't take the unused shims back.

$700 for 8 hours of work is more reasonable. I can live with that.

Dropping the pumpkin wasn't bad at all. It gave me the opportunity to install solid diff bushings and re-grease the rear sway bar. Maybe i'll even swap the rear springs for linear springs.