Clutch replacement price?

[LearjetMinako]

This one kind of sucks for me. On Thanksgiving, I decided to try to replace the clutch. After about 3hours worth of work, I get to the bellhousing. Just trying to take one bolt out took me 15mins and I still only managed to get it half way out. If this was only the first bolt, I didn't want to imangine the rest would be like. I was fusterated and then I snapped for a spilt second and knee'd my driver's door while under the truck. Now I have a dent to fix too.

So to just end it. I decided to just let Ford's shop do it for me. I'll provide the parts, they do the rest. The shop is going to do the clutch, slave cylinder, resurface the flywheel, and replace the rear main seal for about $550 w/ taxes. He said its about a 4.3hour job. The warranty work will cover the labor done for 12mo/12K miles.

Does this sound about right?

Later on, I'll have a body shop pull that one dent I made and leave the hail damage alone.

 

[np24]

try this on the dent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItSWESEVOUA

 

[kennykenny]

That doesn't sound like too bad of a price for having a dealership do it.

 

[rangerbum]

Definitely not a bad price. Especially with the warranty. I've heard alot worse just because the M5OD-R1 is a bugger to work on.

 

[LearjetMinako]

try this on the dent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItSWESEVOUA

I will try that. If it works, I won't feel so emotionally bad for snapping.

 

[Ozwynn]

it was $536 for the cruiser here locally, but I brought them a resurfaced flywheel. they changed the front seal on the trans, rear seal on the engine, put in the clutch and fly wheel.

 

[Shran]

That actually sounds kind of expensive. I got a price of just under $500 to replace the clutch in my F150 including parts and labor...not from a dealership though. I'd check around with private shops - good ones know just as much about stuff as a dealer would.

 

[LearjetMinako]

So $550 is about on the high side, and that is just labor & resurfacing the flywheel. I bought the clutch earlier in the year, which costed about $325 (clutch kit, slave cyl, rear seal).

I'm trusting the Ford shop to do the work since they have been very good to me through customer service. Thou I still always question the quality of the work done.

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

If you think getting the tranny out of a 2wd 4 banger is bad, you need to try a 4x4 V6! Nothing like trying to separate the exhaust y-pipe from the manifolds after 16 years! And then you have to take the xfer case off before pulling the trans or use a complicated system of jacks to drop the whole thing with the trans and t-case attached.

It took me about 2 hours to pull the engine from my ranger (which is all the work of pulling the trans plus some) but it took me about 10 hours to get the trans out of my explorer for a clutch job.

I almost snapped during the explorer clutch replacement. It ended up taking me a whole weekend plus 2 evenings to finish the dumb thing. I hope I don't have to do that again any time soon.

 

[Shoeboy]

$550 sounds like a good price. I just did one on a 2wd, 4 cyl Ranger at work not to long ago, and after everything the guy left with just under $1000 (parts included). Our hourly rage is $108 an hour. And that over all price is including the fly wheel being machined and the hydrolic system being flushed.

 

[LearjetMinako]

Monday, Dec. 1 is when Ford shop's will be doing the work. And if anything does go wrong, its their problem to fix. And if anything should go wrong after the job is done, its all under warranty (probably the best for peace of mind).

As for the dry ice trick to pop dents. Didn't quite pull the dent but did make it smaller. So I feel a little better. Maybe its just time to go blow a grand and have the hail dents fixed and the whole truck re-painted. The paint is already trying to come off and I keep just adding touch-up to it everytime.

As for stress relief from all this. I'm going gun trigger happy tomorrow. Going to plink away at those pesky paper targets with my Glock and my mother's new S&W MP. And sometime in the middle of December, I'll be getting that S&W 629 .44mag that I've been drooling on for over a year.

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

...Our hourly rage is $108 an hour...

That's exactly why shops never work on my junk! I'm a well paid mechanical engineer and I make less than 1/3 of that per hour! I know shops have overhead and all, but $108/hour is kind of rediculous. My dad's and brother's electrical business charges about half that rate for service calls, they have just as much overhead as a shop, and they make good money at it. When I work on other peoples vehicles I charge $20/hour. And it doesn't take me much longer than a shop would.

/rant. I just think it's rediculous how much shops charge nowadays to work on stuff. It's no wonder everyone just goes and buys a new car. It's actually cheaper than fixing the old one.

 

[LearjetMinako]

That's exactly why shops never work on my junk! I'm a well paid mechanical engineer and I make less than 1/3 of that per hour! I know shops have overhead and all, but $108/hour is kind of rediculous. My dad's and brother's electrical business charges about half that rate for service calls, they have just as much overhead as a shop, and they make good money at it. When I work on other peoples vehicles I charge $20/hour. And it doesn't take me much longer than a shop would.

/rant. I just think it's rediculous how much shops charge nowadays to work on stuff. It's no wonder everyone just goes and buys a new car. It's actually cheaper than fixing the old one.

One of the reasons why I do most of my own work. I wonder how much Kawasaki would have charged me to replace a timing chain when the parts alone were already close to $200. And that doesn't include the speical tools to do the job.

My Ranger is still in the shop. Unfortunely, the mech had to work on a diesel engine before my Ranger and could not get to it until after his lunch. I just told them it was cool, take your time. I'm in rush to go anywhere and I have the motorcycle to get around. I also got to take a look at it while the tranny was out. Its really not that much of a job. Just those stubborn bolts. I got the clutch replaced at a perfect time too. The clutch was at its end of life and would not last too much longer. From the look of things, the mechanic knew what he was doing, so I feel better that my Ranger is in good hands.

 

[jaymegriffiths]

If you think getting the tranny out of a 2wd 4 banger is bad, you need to try a 4x4 V6! Nothing like trying to separate the exhaust y-pipe from the manifolds after 16 years! And then you have to take the xfer case off before pulling the trans or use a complicated system of jacks to drop the whole thing with the trans and t-case attached.

It took me about 2 hours to pull the engine from my ranger (which is all the work of pulling the trans plus some) but it took me about 10 hours to get the trans out of my explorer for a clutch job.

I almost snapped during the explorer clutch replacement. It ended up taking me a whole weekend plus 2 evenings to finish the dumb thing. I hope I don't have to do that again any time soon.

Little heads up for next time, i believe you can cut the exhaust just before the curve on either side and have an exhaust shop weld a piece in there after for about 50 bucks. i know this is the best way in a 2wd not 100% sure about the T case. well worth the money though.

 

[LearjetMinako]

I thought I left this thread to collect dust.

Just an update. I've been driving on the new clutch for about a month or less than 1k miles. So far, so good. Though it does act up when its cold but the problem comes and goes. Does it again, I'm taking it back in for warranty repairs. Also, my nice new S&W 629 .44mag has been sent in for warranty work. For some damn reason, after 50rds, it started to shoot a foot below target. And can't be sighted with the sights limits. Also another problem from 2005 that I need to get resolved (kinda personal) has come up. So much for starting 2009 with a clean plate.