Got a chance to see the Slee guys in person today. Pretty nice shop and a great bunch of guys. They gave me a rough estimate of $5k for installing air lockers and 4.88 gears. Ouch. $3.5k in parts and about $1.5k in labor.
Anyone know of a local shop that might be up to this if I got the parts? I might attempt the lockers but gearing is definitely above my wrenching skill level.
From what I could tell, setting up the gears is about 50/50 science and art. So, I had my gears done at Slee.
I drove my truck there on a Saturday, dropped it off and caught a $100 cab ride to the Denver airport, flew home on a Frontier round trip returning to Denver the following Saturday morning. I took a shuttle from the airport to Slee for $30 on the return trip.
I had a fairly extensive pile of 'while you're in there' work done too - speedometer correction box, brakes, figure out why my PS front kept eating seals (bad knuckle bearing), new U joints, install my Milford barrier, a rear locker skid plate, swapped sides on my Longfields, etc... They also found out while opening up the rear that I had a cracked rear brake rotor - so a pair of rotors got tacked on. Then I decided I 'needed' an ARB fridge that they had in the display room...
They did a nice job. No diff noises and I've been happy with the work they did. They're a high quality shop and they regularly do the things I wanted done.
At the time their labor costs for the re-gear was -half- of what I was quoted at a local shop that would 'try it'. The local shop also wouldn't guarantee their work as it was something they'd never done before.
Gears are a, 'not cheap,' and worth every penny mod - but only if they're done right.
I think I've found the 'sweet spot' on my truck.
Supercharger + 4.88 + 315/75R16 tires =
YMMV
