Quote from Dealer to Do Birfields

[cary]

Well I was going to push the Birfields a bit longer, but I went to do the brakes and notices that the knuckles were seeping, so time to do them. I had another issue that sent me to the dealer for a small part, and while there I decided to get a quote for doing the entire repack, seal replacement, inluding the inner seals. The first service advisor had no clue what I wanted. He asked the one next to him, what it was, she didn't know either. They got the supervisor, who kindly told me that they really don't do many of them anymore, as most 80's seem to go to independents because of their age.

I was a bit suprised, as this is the second largest Toyota Dealer in California, with approximately 50 service bays. The supervisor had them print me an estimate, and suprisingly, it was $1000 parts and labor, less than I expected. They quote 5.2 hours of labor. I am going to have my mechanic do the job, which may cost me more in labor, since he has not done them before (he is a BMW mechanic, and a great race car fabricator), but I trust his attention to detail, over an unknown mechanic at the dealer. This was seconded by my wife.

Just my slow saturday rambling.

Cary

 

[Tooth Fairy]

Most dealers I have heard of just do what they call a "wiper seal replacement".

It's not a complete birf job. When you get around to it see if whoever does it would let you come in and see the birfields in a clean state so you can make an informed decision on any possible replacement issues.

Why not do it yourself? It's real messy, but, not too difficult.

 

[cary]

I spoke with the service rep and it was clear this was the knuckles, inner seals and out seals (the first two reps kept thinking it was a bearing repack). That is my exact concern is the dealer mechanic decides to shortcut the job.

I would do it myself, but do not have the time. My wife didn't even want me to spend the time changing the pads. I am having my independent mechanic do it, because I know he will do the job properly. I have had a 10+ year relationship with the shop, and used to go 4 wheeling with my mechanic, and still go to the road races sometimes.

Cary

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I'll bet that your quote did not include the knuckle bearings. Just the parts for that would be over $100 and it takes a lot longer than 5.2 hours. I'm thinking you should do this yourself. It's an essential Cruiser experience and you will do the job perfectly with no short cuts. If Toyota wants to charge you $1000 just to replace those inner seals and repack the birfields, that seems like a lot. Remember to get the wheel bearings repacked and the grease seal replaced as well. You really should do it yourself. If I lived close, I would help you.

 

[cruiserdan]

No way does 5.2 flat-rate hours include knuckle bearings.

 

[reffug]

No way does 5.2 flat-rate hours include knuckle bearings.

I guess that solves that. (Sorry about the preposition at the end).........

 

[cary]

I was kind of suprised the hours were that low from the dealer. Andrew, I appreciate your offer, but the time is simply not there and my wife would rather I spend it on other things. My mechanic will probably give me a break, so I would expect the labor to run me about $700. I told him that I thought it would probably take 8-10 hours, but he wants to see the writeup on what is involved before he undertakes it.

Cary

P.S.- Check out my other thread on the weird drainplug problem I am having.

 

[GXO]

I knew what I was doing when I dug into mine, had correct parts and tools, etc and still took close to 8 hours per side including cleanup.

 

[cary]

Dan,

Of course yours took longer, everything goes slower when you have a 3FE cruiser.

 

[MoJ]

Dan,

Of course yours took longer, everything goes slower when you have a 3FE cruiser.

 

[nyk438]

Well I was going to push the Birfields a bit longer, but I went to do the brakes and notices that the knuckles were seeping, so time to do them. I had another issue that sent me to the dealer for a small part, and while there I decided to get a quote for doing the entire repack, seal replacement, inluding the inner seals. The first service advisor had no clue what I wanted. He asked the one next to him, what it was, she didn't know either. They got the supervisor, who kindly told me that they really don't do many of them anymore, as most 80's seem to go to independents because of their age.

I was a bit suprised, as this is the second largest Toyota Dealer in California, with approximately 50 service bays. The supervisor had them print me an estimate, and suprisingly, it was $1000 parts and labor, less than I expected. They quote 5.2 hours of labor. I am going to have my mechanic do the job, which may cost me more in labor, since he has not done them before (he is a BMW mechanic, and a great race car fabricator), but I trust his attention to detail, over an unknown mechanic at the dealer. This was seconded by my wife.

Just my slow saturday rambling.

Cary

Complete job inner axle seals and entire repack the whole shabang I got done for $400. If your anywhere near Austin, TX take it Land Cruiser Speacialties only place my cruiser goes for work.

 

[ginericLC]

Well, my dad's Toyota dealer charged him $1200 with parts to rebuild the front end. It has been a few years and a couple ten thousand miles and I decided it was time to do it again. They put the axle seals in backwards. Really, I don't know how they did it but the cup side was out. And amazingly they weren't leaking. I had another issue with the spindle which prompted this whole ordeal. I decided to do the knuckles while I was in there and I found that they had made a paper gasket to put between the steering arm and the knuckle. And it was the thicker stuff. And no it wasn't a shim. Anyway, the dealer ended up sending me $285 towards parts for the problems. This was a nice token, but still not really a good thing since they shouldn't have messed up to begin with. This was actually the results of the second time they rebuilt the front end. The first time the mechanic forgot to put the seals in. My dad had leaks all over the place and he got them to put new seals in. But this netted the dealership buying my dad new birfields (Toyota ones ) I know that there are good Toyota dealerships for service, but so far I haven't found one. The one excuse this particular dealership gave was that they don't service many Land Cruisers. They only sold one or two per year from 86-02. And most of their clients don't have them serviced more than an oil change or warranty work. They trade them off every few years and then they get sent out to private mechanics for repair. I blew a gasket (maybe the one they made for the knuckle) when they told me this. I told them that the front axle design wasn't specific to the Land Cruiser and that all the pre 85 pickups and 4Runners had the same basic system. The guy responded with some actual intelligence which surprised me at this point. He said, "Those are part time systems and rarely do the seals go bad on them." So my opinion of dealer serviced items is that high right now. Maybe if American Toyota service is like their parts dept. I could get some good service if I lived in NM?

 

[mabrodis]

No way does 5.2 flat-rate hours include knuckle bearings.

I agree with Dan here, mine was closer to 52.0 hours. I would NOT trust a shop to do the work. Maybe a private mechanic that you've known for a long time, so he actually cares somewhat about what you think and you. IMO, nobody will care about your vehicle at all, it's not their vehicle. If doing it yourself you may take hours to get it all clean, look at it, take pictures, look up other's pictures on the Internet, etc. No shop is going to do that, they don't care, cause it's not their vehicle. Ofcourse people who don't care can still do OK work, but no shop will ever 'take their time' and be overly anal about it.

Good Luck..

 

[robbie]

Mark. some shops do care. It takes me on a real good day about 8 hours to do the front axle and on a bad day way longer. That said, it take over two to 2.5 hrs to clean all the parts by hand. All the parts are way clean. so some shops do care. later robbie

 

[Brentbba]

Mark. some shops do care. It takes me on a real good day about 8 hours to do the front axle and on a bad day way longer. That said, it take over two to 2.5 hrs to clean all the parts by hand. All the parts are way clean. so some shops do care. later robbie

So when are you moving to SoCal?

 

[cruiserdan]

So when are you moving to SoCal?

He already said he cares so that means he wouldn't be able to......

 

[cruiserdan]

Mark. some shops do care. It takes me on a real good day about 8 hours to do the front axle and on a bad day way longer. That said, it take over two to 2.5 hrs to clean all the parts by hand. All the parts are way clean. so some shops do care. later robbie

I think eric forgot about you.


Note to the board, It takes a pro that has done a parking lot full of these things a full day to do the "proper job". Do not get discouraged when it takes you 2 or 3 days.

 

[ginericLC]

Mark. some shops do care. It takes me on a real good day about 8 hours to do the front axle and on a bad day way longer. That said, it take over two to 2.5 hrs to clean all the parts by hand. All the parts are way clean. so some shops do care. later robbie

I wasn't saying that there weren't shops like yours out there. It just is that some of the dealers with the white sign with the red letters seem to not have a clue. And I'm not saying all of them don't have a clue. But I know of at least 3 that I've dealt with, they don't. The worst one has a service manager who believes front and rear differential locks are an add on. I would definitely pay your shop to do mine if I was closer and I had the money to pay somebody to do my work. Heck, I'd probably pay you just to sit and let me watch you work for awhile.

 

[robbie]

Maybe just a sensitive day or something. I do know that there are shops that do care and then alot that could care less. It does take a little trail and error and wasted money at times. Any how no offence taken here, just felt that some that cares speaks up for the others that care. Trust is a easy thing to loose.
If i could not move back to Alaska, I would perfer nothern cal to southern (lived in San diego for 2.5 years, had enough) later robbie

 

[Brentbba]

He already said he cares so that means he wouldn't be able to......

Ouch! hehehe