What shall I do if they go over their estimate...demand them to break it back? I don't want to incur anymore fees than they estimate.

 

if you're ok with their estimate... let them know that they can work on it, but when it gets close to $200 to call you to verify if you want them to continue, or quit.. by that time, they *should* be able to let you know what the problem is, and if they havent finished, how much longer, and at what price...

 

Any reputable shop will not charge you anything above the estimated price for repairs, however some sneak little print that states you authorizing them to take whatever measures needed to complete the job, just read every line and caption before signing.

 

Dont have any technical help to add but for what its worth for trying to do it yourself and being patient. Good Luck.

 

Josiah, Man I hate to see this being sucha difficult process for you.

Maybe for money and times sake you could just take out both half shafts. and run like that. You wouldn't have any issue at the front diff because bosth sides are plated off. The wheel side would take the vacuum hub off but the worst that could happen is you will spin some greese out of your wheel beerings, they are sealed I think so that shouldn't be much of an issue either.

Someone, chime in and see if this would be a possiblity. This would at least allow you to drive it to a few shops and maybe get some additional help and allow you to drive your truck again. If I was in your situation this would be my plan.

On a horribly bad planning stand point, do you have a credit card? I know your in college, which makes it easier to get a card sometimes. Maybe, you could try and apply for one over the web, get a little credit fix your truck, pay the credit card off this summer and CUT IT UP. If you do what I just said and pay it off, this will also help your credit down the road. BUT BE CAREFULL AND DON"T ABUSE IT. Again, this is not a great suggestion but could get you out of a pickle.

Good luck bro, your still rock for doing this yourself. Everyone, else shouldn't let this deter you from lifting on your own. Do you realize once this is over that Josiah will have learned so much about his truck that it will be scary. If he hadn't done this he would never have this knowledge.

 

More like this....Any reputable shop should call you if there are any further issues once they get into the job that would make the job cost more than what was estimated in the beginning. It is called an ESTIMATE for that reason. Without having everything apart, laying on the bench it is totally impossible to hit the dollar amount right in the head.

I mean is someone told you their estimated time of arrival is 3pm and they dont show up until 3:30, would you be pissed. It's an estimate. I know thats a little extreme to use as a comparison, but I'm just trying to make a point.

Josiah...get an estimate in writting. Make sure they put on it, that if the job will go over the estimate they must call you to get your approval forst. If thats in writting, and the bill is higjer than the estimate, now you have something to go back on , and say no way, I aint paying that. Trust me, I do estiamtes all day long and make sure I call people if its gonna go over. I learned the hard way a long time ago. Sorry to bring this up in your thread, but I just had to explain the whole "ESTIMATE" thing.,

Good luck bro, hang in there and keep a posotive attitude. You'll be ripping up the trails in no time


BREW

 

Brew, Thrill, kind words. I just found out where those god damn bearings are coming from. The wheels on the floor jack. Can you believe this? I noticed a wheel was loose. Thank god. I guess the problem I'm having is just being locked in 4wd. Getting out of 4wd will be the problem now (removing front driveshaft today if I can't get around it). I'm sure that vacuum line remedy that was sent to me by baja would help when I take time to figure it out. Gotta make a few phone calls so take care everyone, what an endeavor. I checked that jack, torque wrench, etc for these bearings and could not find it earlier. I speculated a buddy of mine threw those down there to screw with me, turns out he didn't. Hopefully this means an end to my problems as soon as I get out of 4wd. Thanks for the help guys, I owe you one.

 

SWEET...Im happy for you. So I was close with the creeper, do I still get the 24 pack

Well, get the 4WD issue solved and get out in the woods man. I'm waiting patiently for some pretty sick video.


BREW

 

Any word yet on your wheels?

 

Not sure, just called again and left another message like yesterday. Unfortunately he hasn't returned my calls. I'll keep you updated.

And dammit Brew, hell no.

 

Do any of you know whether or not removing the driveshaft will disengage the front hubs (I can't see it doing so but I need to test out the truck in 2wd until I figure out how to properly install the vacuum tubes)? Need an answer quick.

 

Don't know about the hubs man, but that's damn funny that the bearings came from the floor jack. I mean 5 pages of thread devoted to finding the source of the mysterious ball bearings, just to come from the floor jack.

Eventually, you'll find it as funny as we did. You're so close, don't let it get to you now. We are all as anxious as you are to get those wheels in and rolling down the trails!

 

Here's the deal. Discount Tire Direct is going to ship the wheels (charge me for them but refund me later when they receive my old ones). They're going to be here by Monday (hopefully) and they will have me run a couple towns over with the 37's on 20's I have right now, take'em to a shop and they'll pay to mount and balance them. Not a bad tradeoff, I'm pretty happy (overnighting was around $1k).

Now I need to get my truck in working order so I can drive down there. Anybody able to elaborate on getting the vacuum to unlock and lock correctly?

 

Josiah,

Go ahead and try pulling out the front driveshaft. I have a feeling that is the vibration you are feeling. Even if the front hubs remain locked, i think your vibration will go away. As its not comming from the hubs/front axle... I have a feeling its from the front driveshaft just like mine was.

If you still have this vibration after you pull the front driveshaft.. Them i think we need to start looking at places we havent looked yet. As the vibration must be a result or somthing else.. Perhaps the rearend somewhere...

 

Awesome news, the truck runs great without the front driveshaft. Just went and took it around the block after taking it off. I guess I'll need to get that rebalanced and keyed. Can someone with a 4wd please go out and check if your front driveshaft spins while in 2wd? I'd really appreciate that, that will decide whether or not the problem goes beyong rebalancing the driveshaft. Thanks a lot.