what parts would i need to buy in order to change my gears. i have a grinding noise. how much would a shop charge me

 

That's a fairly open ended question.

Here's a pricepoint for you. I had my rear axle rebuilt last week(1/26/09). I shopped for 2 months to save money on parts. I replaced axle seals/axle bearings/ring and pinion/head and tail bearing/pinion seal/crush sleeve/pinion nut/complete LS differential case/carrier bearings/all 4 bearing cups. I had everything inside my axle replaced except for the axle shafts. My parts cost with oil was 328.30. My labor cost to the shop was 870.00 after some haggling. Not cheap, not under warranty, and only 63k on the 2004 fx4. Bear in mind-my parts cost was so low because an awesome member of this site saved his diff case and ring&pinion when he geared up. I saved about 300.00 because of that.

After inspecting all the parts, it was primarily the head and tail bearings on the pinion that had failed the most. The ring gear was in ok shape with very little striation. You could really see some scoring in the bearing cups. It was grinding and LOUD at all speeds, on or off throttle. I didn't want to chance it and swapped it all.

Hope this helps.

 

yea thats what i wanted to see. thanks alot

 

you paid the shop $870 to rebuild 1 rear end?

 

If you have an 8.8 this is the cheapest place i have found to buy a master install kit. Motive is the ****! I think they use koyo usa bearings too thats the same brand dana splicer uses.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/rearendrebuild.html

 

Hey Flip,
Minus additional parts it was 692 in labor for a 2004 9.75 rear. Could you have done it for less with a 12k warranty if I'd flown you up here to Maryland?

 

heh.. with my eyes closed. I have a couple of conditions though I need lots of candles and barry white's music playing in the background when im working on diffs.
On a serious note I didnt know you had a 9.75
8.8 are cheap to re gear/re build. I did my front and rear total cost with gears $650 and now i own the tools.

 

nice.
It's the cost of doing business here just outside of Washington DC. Nothing's cheap. My three estimates were all within 120 of each other. If I had been willing to drive 60-70 miles the cost went down about 200.

 

so from 1-10 how hard is to replace the rear axle.

 

depends on your mechanical ability.

 

well i dont know how good of a mechanic i am. the major things ive done is lowered my Lightning (Springs, shackles, and removed 2 leafs out.

 

Hey,

I put it at a 7. Here's why: I've done 90% of my wrenching for over 25 years. Track stuff, family stuff, have built motors, rebuilt transmissions etc. You get the idea. You don't have to be a "good" mechanic to do this job, you do have to be spot on at following procedure to the letter, this includes knowing your tools and having the right ones, hence my seven. As with any other or most other jobs, the first time can be the most difficult and time consuming.
It 's also my daily driver, which is why I searched out the guy who does them for a living, and backs it with a great warranty. I think it's safe to say here that you wouldn't want to have a do-over on the final drive.
If I could have parked my truck and gotten to it when I had a day plus a fix any mistake day behind it, I definitely would have done it myself. I don't think it's anything to be intimidated over. Good luck with your choice.

Hope that helps