How many shop hours?

[westie47]

How many hours should a shop charge to swap and rebuild a 741 center section. I just took my Coronet into the local speed/custom hot rod shop to have a Sure Grip installed. They did the following:

1. Initial test drive, heard sound
2. Removed centre section
3. Inspected gears, found gears worn, not set up properly before.
4. I ordered a new ring and pinion. Took 5 days, then they ordered bearings and went through some drama trying to find the correct ones.
6. Rebuilt the centre section
7. Installed and test drive

They billed me 15 hours. That seems like a lot of hours. Looking for some feedback from experienced guys here.

Thanks.

 

[493 Mike]

How many hours should a shop charge to swap and rebuild a 741 center section. I just took my Coronet into the local speed/custom hot rod shop to have a Sure Grip installed. They did the following:

1. Initial test drive, heard sound
2. Removed centre section
3. Inspected gears, found gears worn, not set up properly before.
4. I ordered a new ring and pinion. Took 5 days, then they ordered bearings and went through some drama trying to find the correct ones.
6. Rebuilt the centre section
7. Installed and test drive

They billed me 15 hours. That seems like a lot of hours. Looking for some feedback from experienced guys here.

Thanks.

2 days is a little excessive, unless they don't do 8 3/4s on a regular basis. Did the results please you?
Mike

 

[Black_Sheep]

What was the total bill for 15 hours of labor and the parts? You could have purchased a complete center section from a number of reputable vendors for under $2K.

 

[Doorkicker]

I have only built a handful of 8 3/4 center sections... with most castings (741, 742, & 489) for my cars - so I'm no expert. And it takes me about 5-7 hours to build (from jack up to jack down). But I take my sweet time. I enjoy the process and will rip it back apart if I'm not happy with the clearances. 15 hours is a bit much IMHO, but not completely out of line.

But, there's a lot to do. For example, you don't just "pull" the center section in an 8 3/4... you have to pull the axles and I've seen that really stump folks. I will say that if you're not familiar with rebuilding read ends... it can be time consuming, and you likely don't have the right tools, which makes it super hard.

But frankly, time is technically irrelevant. How much did it cost and are you satisfied? It comes down to... do you feel like you we charged fairly for what you received? If yes... you're good to go. If no, then you can argue the time charged.

 

[pnora]

How many hours should a shop charge to swap and rebuild a 741 center section. I just took my Coronet into the local speed/custom hot rod shop to have a Sure Grip installed. They did the following:

1. Initial test drive, heard sound
2. Removed centre section
3. Inspected gears, found gears worn, not set up properly before.
4. I ordered a new ring and pinion. Took 5 days, then they ordered bearings and went through some drama trying to find the correct ones.
6. Rebuilt the centre section
7. Installed and test drive

They billed me 15 hours. That seems like a lot of hours. Looking for some feedback from experienced guys here.

Thanks.

Can you post a copy of the invoice?

 

[westie47]

2 days is a little excessive, unless they don't do 8 3/4s on a regular basis. Did the results please you?
Mike

The work was good, thorough. There was a lot of dicking around trying to find the correct bearings which killed a couple of days.

 

[westie47]

What was the total bill for 15 hours of labor and the parts? You could have purchased a complete center section from a number of reputable vendors for under $2K.

The shop rate is $124/hr, bill was $3200 Cdn.

 

[Runcharger]

741 is easy to setup, it takes a bit to find the parts but not bad. 8 hours should have more than covered it. Sounds like you paid for training the tech and the parts guy.

 

[pnora]

How many hours should a shop charge to swap and rebuild a 741 center section. I just took my Coronet into the local speed/custom hot rod shop to have a Sure Grip installed. They did the following:

1. Initial test drive, heard sound
2. Removed centre section
3. Inspected gears, found gears worn, not set up properly before.
4. I ordered a new ring and pinion. Took 5 days, then they ordered bearings and went through some drama trying to find the correct ones.
6. Rebuilt the centre section
7. Installed and test drive

They billed me 15 hours. That seems like a lot of hours. Looking for some feedback from experienced guys here.

Thanks.

8 3/4 Mopar Complete Built To Order (489 case) Center Section - Moser Engineering

 

[tommygun]

The shop rate is $124/hr, bill was $3200 Cdn.

Jesus thats nuts, I'm in Nova scotia, no wonder the new generation dont want to build these cars, 124$ an hour for incompetence, for 3200 you could of bought a new third member.

 

[WileERobby]

I'm scratching my head on this. You were not informed of the cost before the work was started ? Up front, you should be informed 1) how much cost for diagnosis 2) how much cost for a total rebuild if required.

 

[TBONE]

I don't think that 15 hours is too bad considering it sounds like it was there for days.

 

[#41]

So that would have been $1860 labor (15 x $124)? I don't see that as completely unreasonable... but if you bought the ring and pinion as you seem to be saying, .... what was the rest of the total of $3200 for?

Owning a classic car is expensive if you don't do the wrenching yourself. The majority of guy can't build gear sets but perhaps can R&R them. In this case they would maybe buy a new gear set for $2-3k and install it themselves... so overall I don't think you are that bad off not having done any of the labor.

 

[493 Mike]

The shop rate is $124/hr, bill was $3200 Cdn.

Ouch!
Mike

 

[RemCharger]

Ouch!
Mike

Probably 2900 before tx
I know a guy that had one done for 3500, but that included a new case, new gears, new suregrip+ bearings. Built and installed.

I would have called it about 9-10 hrs at my shop. If there wasn't any extra weird stuff going on

 

[westie47]

I don't think that 15 hours is too bad considering it sounds like it was there for days.

It was there for two weeks, they don't work Mondays so add in two long weekends. I bought the ring and pinion from them, it was around $450. They had alot of issues finding the right bearings for the third member, but that isn't my problem.

 

[westie47]

Probably 2900 before tx
I know a guy that had one done for 3500, but that included a new case, new gears, new suregrip+ bearings. Built and installed.

I would have called it about 9-10 hrs at my shop. If there wasn't any extra weird stuff going on

I'm scratching my head on this. You were not informed of the cost before the work was started ? Up front, you should be informed 1) how much cost for diagnosis 2) how much cost for a total rebuild if required.

When it firs went in, they said they were 6 hours into test driving, disassembling and diagnosing. They said it would be about 3 more hours once the ring gear and pinion came in. That would have made it 9 hours, so not sure how they got to 15.

They didn't quote any costs, this shop doesn't do that.

 

[westie47]

8 3/4 Mopar Complete Built To Order (489 case) Center Section - Moser Engineering

That works out to roughly $2800 Cdn, so maybe I'm not too far off.

 

[kiwigtx]

The last 8-3/4 with sure-grip that I had rebuilt locally here cost me under $500, and it probably took the guy about 4 hours all up. He supplied the bearing kit etc - all I gave him was a head that needed setting up, and replacement set of ring & pinion and a brand new sure-grip unit from Rock-Auto.

I was asked how aggressive I wanted it to be.....it is what it is. That rear end is in my A100 and it is awesome.

The head I gave the guy needed some work as the fellow I bought it from via FBBO didn't describe ALL the flaws in the casting......that's another story. So a reasonable amount of time was lost cleaning up the mess from a previously wandering ring gear.

BTW...the bearings I bought in from USA were junk apparently - we had to source better quality Japanese bearings locally. Luckily there is one shop here who stocks all of those odd parts.

 

[gkent]

The shop rate is $124/hr, bill was $3200 Cdn.

I only paid $5000 CANADIAN for a complete custom Dana S60 from Bears !!!!