I have a customer who has a 87 jeep wrangler on 33s,he wants to install 4.88gears,arbs(fr&rear)super 35 rear axle upgrade,and eliminate the front axle disconnect with xj axles and hubs.He has all of the parts.I just was wondering about how many hours labor you would charge???I have done the job before just am unsure about a quote???Mitchell says 5.9 hours each end for gears but I dont think that is including set-up or an arb install.

Thanks in advance for any help!!!!

And I already tried to talk him into swapping the 35 for a xj dana 44!!!!

honestly i would charge atleast 1grand its alot of time consuming work, i just recently got 800 to do a guys front and rear gears only and not all the extra work to do the Air and etc for the ARBs, he asked me why so much and i explained the whole process and the special tools required. and being over here in germany i make a killin being one of probally not many that know how to do that and have the tools. It took about 7 hours start to finish

The gears alone should be 500 bucks, and the ARB install shouldn't cost much extra considering that you have to set up the gears anyway. XJ shafts and hubs I could do in an hour or less. As far as "hours" for installing gears, how should we know how long it's going to take you to set them up?

Not to flame you, but 12 hours for gear install on a 30 and 35? Ouch! $$$

I would ballpark about an extra hour to swap the XJ shafts in since you will have the shafts out for the front isntall anyways. Replace the inner seal, remove vacuum crap, etc.


Maybe 12 hours labor total?

Average going rate for gear setup is $250 per axle....and having done gears...I'll gladly pay $250 for someone else to do it....

Doing an ARB is about 2-3 hours of work...drilling the hole for the air line + misc tasks...

Average going rate for gear setup is $250 per axle....and having done gears...I'll gladly pay $250 for someone else to do it....

Doing an ARB is about 2-3 hours of work...drilling the hole for the air line + misc tasks...


My "menu" rate is higher than that if I have the whole vehicle. I give a fat discount if I have just the axle.

Not to flame you, but 12 hours for gear install on a 30 and 35? Ouch! $$$

I would ballpark about an extra hour to swap the XJ shafts in since you will have the shafts out for the front isntall anyways. Replace the inner seal, remove vacuum crap, etc.


Maybe 12 hours labor total?
I was just going off of mitchell on demand labor guide,part of the reason Im here asking is because I didnt want to over price this job!!! And 12 hours @$75 hr is $900!

Thanks for all the replys!

Shops here in New Mexico charge $800 for install of lockers only on each axle, which is f-ing outrageous. ANd its about $500 for gears. And thats just labor.

I was just going off of mitchell on demand labor guide,part of the reason Im here asking is because I didnt want to over price this job!!! And 12 hours @$75 hr is $900!

Thanks for all the replys!

You need to get lucky to do those gears, and the ARB's in 6 hours. That is if you are doing everything.

The install kits I get come with new axle bearings and seals for the 35, so I do them.

The 30's come with new inner seals, I do those two.

Between doing all the seals, the buckhead work, line routing, and gear installs, 6 hours per axle is not a bad start. Maybe you can shave that in a pro shop with a press and working from a hoist, but still, its not a bad start.

Specially on 30's and 35's because of the crush sleeve setup. They work all right and can save you time, but because they are one shot, you want to double check a lot before final assembly. You only really get one chance with those.

We charge $275 labor for a gear/ locker install.
We charge $100/hr for most everything, and it takes about 2 hours for a r&p per axle.

Wow $275 an axle is cheap for a shop, you usually have to know someone who does gears on the side to get em installed for around that price.

6 hours to install gears, them service guys must work damn slow. No wander dealer service shops are so damn expensive, there charging double the labor hours working off of Mitchells labor guide :D

wow....i better adjust my labor rate for gear setups:D

900-1000 i would think..dont sell yourself short.....you can always drop the price

We usually charge 200 to set up axles you buy the parts. Then everything else is evaluated. i would probably charge around 800 for the whole job. but i try to accomodate the low buck wheelers as much as possible.

i just got done rebuilding a d44ttb in a f250 and the parts and labor came to over 1000 and that doesn't cout the r&p and carrier.

your looking at around 200 per r&p, and about 50-75 per bearing kit, i'm not able to recall what the axel shafts run i think like 100 bux a piece. btw this is on the rig

Markets are all different, and labor prices reflect this. I'm one of the higher priced small shops, but I'm charging for a lifetime labor warranty and many years experience as well as the specific job I'm doing, kind of like why Snap-On costs more than SK.
If you're too cheap, you'll be really busy. If you're too expensive, you'll be sitting on your hands. When you're right, your business is steady and you have long-term customers.
Like the man said, you can always come down, but if you go up, your name is Mud.

I had 4.88s put in my old dana 44's with detroits in both for 300 bucks, but I had the axles out, and disassembled, maybe thats why.

I work in a little nickel and dime 4x4 shop in washington state and we always charge 4 hours for gears(per axle)+2 for any locker the axles shouldn't take that long maybee another 2-3 hours

6 hours to install gears, them service guys must work damn slow. No wander dealer service shops are so damn expensive, there charging double the labor hours working off of Mitchells labor guide :D

Those numbers are there for a guideline. Your average mechanic does not spend day in and day out setting up gears.

It might take an apprentice 7 hours, or a journeyman 5. While a gear shop does them in three.

Just because people who do a specific mod a lot can do it faster then normal, doesnt make that mod worth any less. Its still 6 hours worth of work.

And those guides go the other way just about as much, not giving nearly enough time for some jobs.

For what its worth, I always get quotes from shop before I do work to get a good idea of what to charge if its something I havnt done a lot. I usually screw myself on time because of the learning curve, but its quicker the more I do.

Installs here are 6-700 Canadian from shops. I charge 350 an axle.

On a garage floor, using a deepfryer for a press, most axles take me 5-7hours, depending on how lucky I get with pinion depth.

Those numbers are there for a guideline. Your average mechanic does not spend day in and day out setting up gears.

It might take an apprentice 7 hours, or a journeyman 5. While a gear shop does them in three.

Just because people who do a specific mod a lot can do it faster then normal, doesnt make that mod worth any less. Its still 6 hours worth of work.

And those guides go the other way just about as much, not giving nearly enough time for some jobs.

For what its worth, I always get quotes from shop before I do work to get a good idea of what to charge if its something I havnt done a lot. I usually screw myself on time because of the learning curve, but its quicker the more I do.

Installs here are 6-700 Canadian from shops. I charge 350 an axle.

On a garage floor, using a deepfryer for a press, most axles take me 5-7hours, depending on how lucky I get with pinion depth.

This is a good point because when I worked at the dealer they would charge crazy hours on certain fairly easy jobs.Then I open my own shop and try to use the labor guide in my mitchell and once in a while I make good money with their times and more often then not I get kinda screwed with them!!!

That is why I thought I would ask here to get a general idea.

BTW I did talk him into an xj dana 44 instead of the POS dana 35 with a super axle kit!!!
He also wants me to install the arb compressor run the lines too!!!Thanks again for all the replys!!!!

As said above. If the axles are brought in separatly, most folks will give a HUGE discount. West Coast Diffs only charged me $500 for both front and rear with Detroit's.

just for a reference, a local to me shop has a special they run every so often. They get 999.99 for the labor and the gears in YJs, TJs, XJs, etc. thats a fair price and a deserved price. Thats also with the axles attached to the vehicle aswell.

Your price really depends on if your going to warrenty the installs, or if it's a tail light warrenty or what. Shops charge a little more labor because they have to pay the bills, taxes, insurance, and all the other BS.

I would quote that job 700-850, but our market is a little different up here in Michigan... plus I average about 3 hours on a gear install.

Bringing up warranty is a good point. Abuse is inevitable in a fourwheel drive vehicle. Depending upon on how you would handle warranty, we would price accordingly. Around here $250 in labor is fair, but will charge you again if you break something. Some shops around here charge closer to 5 hundo, but dont ask questions if something leaks, or breaks. It all depends on if you plan on being married to the vehicle. I assume since you ask, this is the first time pricing it, so pick a price you can use in the future, in our experience customers dont like prices that vary depending upon who the customer is, or what day it is.

chit-chat

no shop with any good sens will offer a warranty on installation given the nature of the mod.