Greets all,

I just want to make sure I am not forgetting anything... I had a slight accident where the rear end of my truck decided to come loose in a slow left hand turn; well 270 degrees and a curb later I have a destroyed right rear wheel and a bent right rear axle shaft. My dealer wants $985 for parts and labor ($236.78 for the rear axle alone); so I of course went ahead and ordered the parts for myself and have decided to get your guy's opinion on the list.

I ordered a right rear axle shaft for the 9.75, 2 rear axle bearings, 1 rear axle seal, and brake components for that side. My total - $221.17... LOL that is less than the dealer wanted for just the axle alone...



Did I forget anything?

Lastly, I was thinking of doing the work myself, but I would rather have recourse if anything gets messed up; so I will be letting a dealership do the work, but my own dealership may be in doubt. They said they will do the work if I bring in the parts (they have done that for me in the past) but I never had considered their prices SO high until this. $400 labor is what they estimate... Does that sound a little too high or is that about right?

Has anyone changed out an axle shaft before? Man, this whole thing SUX!!!

The only semi-cool thing is I am getting 17" King Ranch wheels with tires (5K on the tires) for about what Ford wanted for a replacement and tire!:o

EDIT: I forgot to mention I based my parts order on the dealer's estimate; although I purchased a couple extra things to make sure the whole side is uniform.

 

TTT

Anyone?

 

Nonsequitur!!!

I forgot all about this thread. Sorry....

I can give you a lot of good pointers but only if the 9.75" is similar to the 8.8". I wasn't sure, so I didn't respond earlier.

Does the 9.75" evan have a removable cover???

 

$400.00 sounds high to me, I would charge around 1.5 for the axle and around 2.0 to do the brakes assuming I'am turning the rotors. If you are just replacing the pads without machineing the rotors I would probally charge around 2.5 for the entire job. Ask them what they are doing for $400.00 They are probally charging you for overlapping labor.

 

AjRagno - I am not too sure about the similarities/differences between the 8.8 and 9.75... I am a novice really. :o

mxracer514 - Yeah I thought that was a bit high. I have all of the parts I believe I will need. I have the axle shaft, 2 bearings, axle seal, and the brake pads. The rotor is fine.

 

I was just getting ready to post a question very similar to this........My truck had a very slight pull to the right(i bought it used) until I put 285/75 tires on it.Now it is is a lot more evident that the alignment is off.I took it in for an alignment.....no dice.......the shop agreed to try again for free (I know the owner).......still no dice.They then ran the specs on all 4 wheels,not just the fron two.My right rear tire is out of aligment nd the only problem is that there is no way to adjust the rear.This means that the axle housing is bent and maybe the inner parts as well.I am going to the dealer for an estimate today ( I am hoping it doesn't come out to what yours was).I am considering getting a whole new rear end with 4.30 gears(it is a superduty and 4.30s were an option from the factory) and both axles(basically the whole nine yards except for the rotors). In my opinion (I am no expert) it would be much easier to just swap out the whole assembly myself.Where did you get your parts for that much cheaper?I have a 10.25 rear end.As far as the simililarities between the 8.8 and the 9.75 go, I have no idea....

 

Lightningcrashz - I ordered the parts from fordpartsonline.com (Atascadero Ford) They had everything in stock and shipped it when they said they would, matter-of-fact it came the next day but I was not home to receive it... :o

Oh yeah they also had the axle shaft in stock when my dealer said it was on backorder...

 

The word from my dealer is that the axle itself is bent and maybe the housing too.To just repair the axle is gonna be + or - 600 bucks, if the housing is bent also it could go up to around 1,000.These prices are just their best guess at this point.Definately gonna have to save my pennies for this one........The more I think about it, the more I like the idea f buying a whole new rear end & axles alread put together and me doing the labor part.I know it will be just as expensive but,I do actually enjoy spending quality time with my truck(as long as everything goes like its supposed to (see my thread in the superduty forum titled "steering stabilizers" for an example of things not goin right.

 

Well, I am taking it in today... I have all of the parts they listed but I still have an ominous feeling they will try to rip me off... Maybe I am just being paranoid; but here goes nothing... Hopefully my truck will be back up soon!

 

Well I took it in and 3 1/2 hours later I get a call they can not finish it today, it has to wait until tomorrow morning... It is only 4:30pm and their shop is open until 10pm... I guess only one guy there can do an axle swap... That and I mentioned the 2.5 hour time estimate and he took me back to show me up by bringing out the time estimate book... lol I guess he did not like the answer in the book because he never showed me directly and cut the estimate in half... Either way I can not help being disappointed, they have had my truck for 3 1/2 hours (they started while I was there I saw my truck on the lift and talked to the tech) and it is now on hold until they can restart at 0730 tomorrow morning... Oh and it should be finished tomorrow morning at 0930... except I work tomorrow...

oh well

 

I have my truck back and she is good to go...

Thank you all for sharing your wealth of knowledge with me; it went pretty painless in the end. I got quoted $985 for the whole thing and with your advice and information I only ended up paying $435 for parts and labor!

Gotta love this place!