8k for front birf service

White Stripe

Hard Core 4+
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May 5, 2015
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Milky way galaxy
How much are new front axle shafts and birfields from the dealer? I know Groove asked for 10hr labor to do inner axle seals on an 80. The average home price in Denver is 600k. So thats at least 150k a year that needs to be made to live unless you got a house cheap years ago. To pay a mechanic that much as a shop so that he can have a home and eat food your going to have to have a high labor rate. 8k still seems high though. Maybe they dont want to do it and will only do it for a higher rate.
 
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CTS

Rock Stacker
Joined
Apr 14, 2025
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I had a similar experience with Japanese Auto Service last winter. They quoted me $20K to fix the leaking timing chain cover and rear main seal on my 80. The "only way to do it right" was going to be to pull the engine, reseal/replace just about everything including the head gasket, all hoses, etc.-not a terrible idea if all of that other work was needed, but it wasn't, and I certainly wasn't interested in dumping that much money into it "while they were at it". They seemed confused when I asked what LS crate engine that $20K included, and then surprised when I declined to have them do the work.

I don't think they were dishonest. Instead, I think it was more a matter of being out of touch with most people's reality and narrowly focusing on the high margin "collector" market. I'm sure we've all come across at least one person who's bought every conceivable mod/accessory and paid someone to bolt it all on for them-or the sky's the limit resto-mod crowd. Those folks all need someone to take their money.
 

ColoradoMntMan

Rising Sun Member
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May 8, 2014
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Arvada
@Doughboy @CTS @Hulk @simps80 I as well had a similar experience.

Do not go to Japanese Auto Service!! Let me tell you about my story.

At a stop light I hit the gas pedal and heard a grind and nothing moved. Had it towed to Japanese Auto Service. They took a day and called me back to report it was just the right hub spline that had stripped out HOWEVER they looked over the entire vehicle and gave me a quote for 11k worth of work! I didn't ask them to look over the entire vehicle. My brother is a master mechanic of 30 years. I called him and gave him the report which he said for now just have them fix the hub spline. I called Japanese Auto Service back and told the service writer I only want the hub spline replaced.


***Here's where the drama starts****

He gives a huge sigh of disappointment I could hear over the phone (because the hub spline is a cheap replacement) then starts on this dialogue that he doesn't think the shop will allow the vehicle to leave with only the hub spline replaced because it’s a "safety" issue.
So he says he will "have to talk to my mechanics about allowing this but I doubt it"
So he doesn't call me back for 3 days!!


When he finally calls me back, he says the mechanics won't allow it and I will have to come grab my vehicle since I am not authorizing the 11k worth of work.

Insane!

So my brother tells me to lock the center diff, I drive it home, and $100 in parts later we replace the hub spline ourselves.
This place is all about the money and scaring people. I went there because I heard rising sun people have used them before.
 
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Hulk

RS Webmaster
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Cruise Moab Committee
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Aug 22, 2005
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Centennial
He gives a huge sigh of disappointment I could hear over the phone (because the hub spline is a cheap replacement) then starts on this dialogue that he doesn't think the shop will allow the vehicle to leave with only the hub spline replaced because it’s a "safety" issue.
So he says he will "have to talk to my mechanics about allowing this but I doubt it"

It's disappointing when a shop that used to be good goes bad. This kind of BS works on some folks.
 
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