Off Road Warehouse vz dealership diff cover replacement cost

[Ruby Mike]

I am considering replacing the stock diff covers with MC nodular iron covers. Off road warehouse quoted me an insane labor price of $425.00 to remove the stock covers, replace the oil and install the new ones. I contacted my local jeep dealership service agent and he said sure, we do it all the time. His price? $30.00 each. I understand the need for profit but ORW is going over the top.

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[limeade]

I think both of those quotes are wrong. The fluid alone will cost about $30-$40, so I don't see the dealer doing the install for a total net profit of $20. And $425 is down right criminal for a pretty easy job. The stock diff cover gaskets are reusable, so no additional cost for those. I've seen others on this forum say their dealers quoted them several hundred dollars just to change the diff fluids.

If you have a ratchet, sockets, a torque wrench, and drain pan, this is about a one hour job you can do in a parking lot.

With two drain pans, you can drain the diffs at the same time by removing the lower half of the diff bolts and loosening the top half of the bolts. Then remove the stock covers, clean the inside bottom of the diffs of any metal shavings, put the gaskets and new covers on, torque to spec, and refill through the fill port.

The hardest part is getting the fluid from the bottle into the fill port. The cheapest and easiest method is to buy some 3/16" clear tubing from a home improvement store. Once you clip the nozzle on the diff fluid bottle, cut a few feet of tubing off, slide one end over the nozzle, stick the other end in the fill port, and squeeze the fluid in until the diff is full. You want the fluid at the bottom edge of the fill port.

 

[plex]

Unless your dealer is reusing your gear oil, which is even worse, no way he can do it for 30 bucks. Sounds like he is gonna bait you in, and tell you a bunch of crap, "oh we found your ring gears broke, now it costs $2,500 to repair..."

 

[Ruby Mike]

The dealership price is for labor only. So the $30.00 doesn't include oil or gasket. So between $50.00 and $60.00. To me this is a fair price.

 

[limeade]

The dealership price is for labor only. So the $30.00 doesn't include oil or gasket. So between $50.00 and $60.00. To me this is a fair price.

I would get a complete quote, including the cost of diff fluid, in writing before having them do the work. As I said, others have posted some ridiculous dealer quotes just for a diff fluid change.

 

[wolf]

Please people for gods sake change your own diff fluids and oil. I changed both my diffs and oil and filter in about an hour and I’m 74 yoa. No way in hell should you let a dealer change your oil when they don’t know how many quarts of oil your motor takes.

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