Price check on asile 2! (1 Viewer)

[FJ62]

OK, So I reluctantly took my ride into a shop to get the front end done...I knew it was going to be expensive, would really like to do the job myself, but the work and travel schedule is simply too much. So, the quote I just got off the phone is;

$1200 - front seal and knuckle rebuild
$200-fix valve gasket oil leak, clean engine
$350-replace front brake rotors and pads
$550-wheel bearings, all the steering bearings int he front
$2300 total, not including tax

Usually, I do my own brakes, they say they are charging me an extra hour on those plus retail on parts...Part of me thinks this is ok, at least for the knuckle job, but what about the other stuff? Is this a fair price? It is Bearden Auto in Austin, which gets good reviews on this site.

 

[Front Range 4x4]

I've heard prices around that before, seems to be in line with others which is why most of us do it ourselves. Of course the retail prices are real high too. Probably be much happier in the end spending a weekend doing it and save most of that $2300.

 

[Dynosoar]

You are getting burned!

$1200 - front seal and knuckle rebuild - OK with all new bearings and seals
$200-fix valve gasket oil leak, clean engine - OK whatever kind of a burn
$350-replace front brake rotors and pads - Burn its already all apart for the front end job
$550-wheel bearings, all the steering bearings int he front - Major ripoff!!!! this should be part of the $1,200 front end deal
$2300 total, not including tax

I will do it for 1/2 the price if you want to drive to Los Angeles.


Dynosoar

 

[Texican]

No wonder I have more work on Land Cruisers than I can do....

Butch

 

[MolallaCruiser]

WOW. The total parts in there is probably $300-350. If your willing to pay them than more power to you but I sure wouldn't pay someone $2000 for something that almost anyone could EASILY do in a weekend, maybe even a day. If you don't make over $125/hour it would pay to grab some tools and a book and get after it.

 

[slcfj62]

First choice would be to do all this work yourself. For that kind of money you can buy all the tools you will ever need to work on your rig + plus the parts to do all those repairs + have money left over for your next problem. A good strategy is to pay the shop to troubleshoot and tell you what is wrong and what parts are needed to fix it, and then do the work yourself.

Second choice is to choose a reliable shop and pay the piper. Every troll has a toll.

 

[Tofudebeest]

Dude...

You are in Austin...go find your local Cruiserheads, buy the parts and party supplies...

 

[FJ62]

Thanks to everyone....unfortunately right now I'm in the middle of moving to another country, working on the weekends, it is just too crazy...I would love to drive to LA to get this done if only there were more hours in the day. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Wile E Coyote]

Oh dear God. I paid about that much for my whole darn truck!

The quote seems to be based upon each job being an individual task, the valve cover gasket an aside of course.
Assuming I'm reading you right, then for one specific example no way should they charge for the 'steering bearings' (knuckle bearings???) job AND a knuckle rebuild, they are one and the same. Obviously R&R of the brake calipers is involved in the knuckle job as well.

I'd shop around, and consider posting a help needed in the clubhouse section local to you. Tofu speaks the wisdom.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

To re-iterate, knuckle and steering bearings are the same. The parts for the brake rotors and calipers are not part of the parts package that the front knuckle rebuild will include, but the labor is. A knuckle rebuild for 1200 would be ok ish. But that should include all the parts to do it, and the labor on the brakes(new rotors and calipers could cost 350). 200 on the oil leak...that's up to you. I would not pay 1200 in labor only for a full knuckle rebuild.

 

[SDFJ60JFK]

What everyone says is true. Based on your numbers I would say that you should walk away for $1400. The $1200 knuckle job and the $200 valve cover job, I would try to get them do the the valve adjust for the same money. THe labor for the other stuff is already in the knuckle job.

How are they cleaning the engine?

Good Luck John

 

[Off Duty]

Have to agree. You're getting screwed I don't care what kind of "reviews" they get in the area!

1st. to charge you RETAIL on that kind of labor is crap.

2nd as several have already said, several of the things you are having done are redundant in that they're already apart to begin with.

Sounds like they're charging labor on labor....a good gig if you can get it

I understand the travel and time limitation (which is why my cruisers still sittin after 2 months!)

Get the rundown on what needs to be fixed, get the parts as cheap as you can (here or somewhere on line), then take it to a local vo-tech and let them do the labor

You'll both benefit

 

[FJ62]

OK, so here are the grand totals:

$1162- knuckle reseal, replace seals, clean repack CVs, clean and repack wheel bearings ($937 labor, $224 parts)

$551-new inner and outer wheel bearings, replace kingpin bearings, washers, lock rings ($187 labor, 363 parts)

$278-replace front rotors and pads ($46 labor, 231 parts)

$235-fix oil leak replacing valve cover gasket, grommet, plenum gasket, clean engine ($187 labor, 47 parts)

$187-starter rebuild, new contacts and plunger (187 labor, I supplied parts)

TOTAL $2,501 (~17 hours labor @ 95/hr, $1547 labor, $866 parts)

Before I go giving these guys a 5-star or 1-star review, I thought I would get your opinion. Is this a fair price? Is this around 17 hours worth of work? I know most everyone here would save money if they did it themselves, I would have rather done that as well...however, if you are going to pay someone to do it, is this a fair price?

Many thanks!

 

[Wile E Coyote]

You payed a steep premium price for those parts my friend. A knuckle kit (including wheel bearings) from a place like cruiser outfitters is sub $200, IIRC. Yes, that included shipping. I read that you payed $587 for the same stuff.

I know that this is how shops make their money vs actual labor rates so I guess that should be the gist of your question. How bad were you raped for parts, based upon shop pricing?

 

[jascolt]

Yep, I dont want to keep harping on how bad they worked you on the price but to answer your question if I had paid for all of this to be done (which I didnt cause I did it with the help of MUD) then That would not have been a "fair" price.
But what is a fair price????? Its whatever the buyer and seller agree upon..............So there, if you agreed to it and paid it then it must be fair to you.

 

[JLH911]

You are getting burned!

$1200 - front seal and knuckle rebuild - OK with all new bearings and seals
$200-fix valve gasket oil leak, clean engine - OK whatever kind of a burn
$350-replace front brake rotors and pads - Burn its already all apart for the front end job
$550-wheel bearings, all the steering bearings int he front - Major ripoff!!!! this should be part of the $1,200 front end deal
$2300 total, not including tax

I will do it for 1/2 the price if you want to drive to Los Angeles.


Dynosoar

I thought the same thing! "How the heck is he charging him for bearing when he's already got the thing apart for the knuckles!? and then more for the brakes!?!?!?!"

RUN!

 

[Dynosoar]

$363 for bearings WTF and 2 hrs of labor to do a starter? These two items would be the deal breaker for me. The other prices are high normal for a shop. If they did the starter and bearings for FREE then it would be a go in my book. But with out that you are getting ass fxxxed!


Dynosoar

 

[Lost]

damn i feel so much better abount doing this type of regular maintenance myself

i did my last (full) axle rebuild in a few hrs for the price of parts (?200$)
at the same time did the brakes(pads 80$/ turned rotors @70$

i changed the valve cover gasket on my motor and cleaned the gunk for 30$ and 20mins...
(i could understand it taking longer w/ 3fe)

you definatly got ripped on the front axle.

starter rebuild is 120-200$

 

[chitown40]

I took my sweet time tearing down the front end and even ended up replacing all the bent up steering rods and sloppy ends 'while I was in there'. It took me a few weeks of working on it an hour or two on my days off. That included tearing everything down completely, cleaning everything in a parts washer at work, painting the knuckles and other components and re-assembly. I could have done it in one day, but I wanted to do the basic knuckle job + make it look pretty and I didn't want to rush it because it was 'my' truck. The guy at the shop probably doesn't have that same level of attachment to your cruiser as you do -- i.e. he's just trying to get the job done and collect his check.

Next time, if you want to do it yourself and can't afford to have the truck down for a few days, think about what a week rental costs from Enterprise compared to $1500 in labor.

A couple of nights in a garage and a comfy car to drive to work for a few days = correct work done on cruiser to your standards + extra $$$ in pocket. Simple equation.

 

[FJ62]

Thanks for the reality check.

So, before I go getting angry, the main problem I see is this:
-they charged me $224 for a knuckle rebuild kit, which should have included the kingpin (knuckle bearings) and the wheel bearings, correct?

How hard is it to change out the knuckle bearings? They made it out to be a big deal, that they had to separate it from the raceways, that is why they charged me 2 hours of labor, was that BS?

My other problem is that I don't know enough about the front end parts and pieces to speak intelligently about it....anyone in the Austin area doing a front end rebuild any time soon?