How man labor hours for rear diff and bushings

[brusk]

Debating on paying a shop or doing it myself. So questions.

1. How many labor hours should a shop charge for swapping in a ready to go diff and replacing the bushings with M3 bushings at the same time.
2. What tools are required if I wanted to do it myself. Kinda tired of buying tools for a one time job.

[ilikebmxbikes]

Originally Posted by brusk

Debating on paying a shop or doing it myself. So questions.

1. How many labor hours should a shop charge for swapping in a ready to go diff and replacing the bushings with M3 bushings at the same time.
2. What tools are required if I wanted to do it myself. Kinda tired of buying tools for a one time job.

my estimate would be $700-900ish. Rates change from shop to shop but my guess would be based on the below.

Rear Subframe install ~$700
Diff Pumpkin Instal - ~$300

These two installs have some shared labor so the savings could be under teh $100 I accounted for.

[mdputnam]

BRusk,
Check out this DIY

[brusk]

Originally Posted by mdputnam

BRusk,
Check out this DIY

Thank You.

Are the axle bolts reusable? Anybody know what size socket to get those off? Is it a torx or inverted torx?

[Elsabor67]

Originally Posted by brusk

Thank You.

Are the axle bolts reusable? Anybody know what size socket to get those off? Is it a torx or inverted torx?

Yes they are reusable and I want to say that it is a 16 or 18mm torx socket.

[llowlife]

I am going to be doing a diff R&R and the sub frame bushings this weekend or possibly before. I will let you know how things go if you would like. I have have not done this before but I do still consider myself a professional mechanic so it should be a pretty close estimate of hours when I am done. I built my own bushing tool and may or may not have to make some minor mods to fine tune it, Also bought a sunex 2" crowsfoot for the diff. Had to machine it down width wise and it was VERY hard (rockwell wise). If you had to pay for it it may be cheaper to buy the AR design one but I am certain mine will never spread. If all goes well (there will be a learning curve)I suspect I will charge around 3-400.00 for anyone local. I sourced out my neighbor to do the wavetrac install and I will be watching him to learn but I suspect I know how to do it, its just been a while. So far all I have special is the 2"crowsfoot (7.00) and the bushing tool which cost next to nothing ( 10.00) except gas and wire. He is more than qualified to do the diff but I need a refresher. I am having an interesting time finding ring gear bolt torque. Wavetrac said 90 lbs/ft but the DIY above said 125 I believe. If nothing else I will get the bolt size and go from there

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Elsabor67

Yes they are reusable and I want to say that it is a 16 or 18mm torx socket.

Nick, you mean an E16 or E18 socket. That is the inverted torx sockets.



PS: I think six or seven hours labor for the rear suframe bushings. Doing the diff then should not be more than three more labor hour charge. You will need a SLIM big open ended wrench to undo the drive shaft attachment. I want to say its 46mm's - but that is just a guess. The size has been posted before in various LSD DIY's.

[brusk]

I was hoping the labor rate was cheaper so I wouldn't have to deal with it myself. The work isn't the problem I just didn't feel like dealing with it if it were say only charging 5 hours or so for the entire thing. After having access to a full shop for so many years doing things the hard way sucks.

[Elsabor67]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Nick, you mean an E16 or E18 socket. That is the inverted torx sockets.
.

yeah, our right. My bad.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by brusk

I was hoping the labor rate was cheaper so I wouldn't have to deal with it myself. The work isn't the problem I just didn't feel like dealing with it if it were say only charging 5 hours or so for the entire thing. After having access to a full shop for so many years doing things the hard way sucks.

Time to go talk with some of your old tech buddies... maybe one of them will do a "side job" for ya. Sometimes a case of their favorite beverage works wonders too.

[brusk]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Time to go talk with some of your old tech buddies... maybe one of them will do a "side job" for ya. Sometimes a case of their favorite beverage works wonders too.

Well technically I still have access to it but it's 1300 miles away on the east coast. I still have all my equipment there, it was a shop that was run on the side appointment only to pay for all the equipment. My partner was an ASE certified master tech for 15 years between his practical knowledge and my aftermarket knowledge is was a lot of fun. Until everybody with a Honda, cavalier or neon wanted you to install the junk parts they bought off of ebay. Problem is we refused to let anything unsafe go out the door and ended up finding many mistakes from previous jobs like fog lights that were installed without a fuse and no grommets or protection when ran through metal which we couldn't afford a lawsuit so we stopped doing most work. Even people with money G35 engine rebuild, twin turbo kit etc seemed to start complaining about money at the end of the job and end up driving the car home on 0 boost and out of the box tune.

Sorry rambling on.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by brusk

Well technically I still have access to it but it's 1300 miles away on the east coast. I still have all my equipment there, it was a shop that was run on the side appointment only to pay for all the equipment. My partner was an ASE certified master tech for 15 years between his practical knowledge and my aftermarket knowledge is was a lot of fun. Until everybody with a Honda, cavalier or neon wanted you to install the junk parts they bought off of ebay. Problem is we refused to let anything unsafe go out the door and ended up finding many mistakes from previous jobs like fog lights that were installed without a fuse and no grommets or protection when ran through metal which we couldn't afford a lawsuit so we stopped doing most work. Even people with money G35 engine rebuild, twin turbo kit etc seemed to start complaining about money at the end of the job and end up driving the car home on 0 boost and out of the box tune.


Sorry rambling on.

Yup, I hear you. That sounds like the wonderfull world of "bolt on" performance where nothing works right out of the box! And then people wonder why it costs so much to setup a car properly & safely!

[llowlife]

Not that you care, but I find that 2 hours should be pretty close to R&R a diff. If I can build a tool that will hold the center u-joint with the shield in place time and gaskets can be saved for removing the mid pipe. I had to use a torch to glow the nuts on the mid pipe. This is one of the easiest diffs I have ever removed. I did not remove any of the driveshaft bolts except the one on the diff. It was easier to back the diff out of the splines and there was definitely enough play in the shaft that I was not in danger of binding anything. If a tool can be made to not remove the heat shield I would say time will be 1.5 hours and at my shop rate that is 90.00.


UPDATE
The whole job took very close to 6 hours. This included rear bushings, diff R&R, and tweaking my bushing puller. All in all not too bad a job (with a hoist). A huge tip of the hat to anyone who does this w/o a hoist. I trimmed the rubber off of the old bushings before pulling as it decreased the interference with the bushing tool. This may have been just specific to my tool however. You will need an E-18 torx bit as well as the specialty tools above. The ground down Sunex 2" crowsfoot performed flawlessly and will not spread. The driveshaft retaining nut can be stubborn. Just remember "to the passengers side". I'm a little perplexed as to why no one will do the bolted differential? The welded I can see or if you have to screw with the pinion then that changes the game. I have not as of yet heard anyone that has not had a low mileage bolted diff that has needed shims or to change the pinion depth? Maybe we just got lucky, removing the one inner bearing race would be the only problem I could see. Diff was 1050 delivered, 37.00 for seals and 100.00 for the rebuild so I have a total of 1187.00 before fluid. Everything else is very easy compared to a 12 bolt GM. Well this was my experience, don't be overwhelmed if you want to save some money.......