How much to rebuild an 8.75?

[THE STIG]

Was curious if anyone could give me a ballpark figure on a rear end rebuild. I've got a 489 in my 70 Charger that as far as I know is all stock. The car came stock w/ a 383 2bbl but the previous owner put a 440 in it but he didn't touch the rear end. I want to put 3.73 gears in it and figured it would make sense to do a complete rebuild while I was at it so I bought the parts to do it and realized that this might be a job for a professional. So has anyone had a recent rebuild on an 8.75? I called the shop that I want to do the work but the guy I need to talk to is out until next week.

[green69rt]

I don't know the rates in your area, many shops use a flat rate book which can get pretty high.  Figure up to ten hours to tear down the old unit, install the new one and set up the gears.  Let's say their rate is $60/hr, that's $600 just in labor.  There are always some parts, fluids, environmental fees (in the US).  You may be seeing close to $1000 by the time all is said and done

Be aware that a lot of old 8.75 rears have a crappy preload adjuster for the axle bearings.  Sometimes you can find one on ebay for $40, if not you may be driven to Dr diff ($140!!!)

So now you have a few hundred in parts, $1000 in parts and labor for the shop.  For about $2000 you can go straight to Strange Engineering for a brand new setup of a S60 Dana!!

[green69rt]

OOPs just saw that you have already bought the parts.  Looks like you are committed to the rebuild.  Actually, I went down the same road, turned out good.

[1974dodgecharger]

rebuild it yourself as long as you have a press you be ok and some a puller of some sort.  bought all the parts from Dr. Diff himself and he is always helpful on how to set things up.

[74Rallye]

If you're looking at a $1000 bill, consider buying a press from Harbor Freight and doing it your self. Heck, you might save enough cash to buy an air compressor as well. It's not a bad job if you like doing your own work.   

[Brickster]

We charge $195 in labor to rebuild the 3rd member. $32.50 for the press work per axle bearing.
If you brought in the complete diff it's $395 labor for the complete rebuild including hot-tank cleaning of the complete housing.

Www.dansdriveline.com

Brick