I have a 2000 Wrangler Sport, 142,000 miles... Dana 44 rear... About three years ago, I replaced my passenger rear axle seal / bearing... well recently I saw it was leaking again... the pain of it myself was that I don't have a press, so I had to drive 50 miles each way (twice, longer story) to finally fix it last time.
This time I figured I would let the shop do it since I don't have a press.
Scheduled appointment and dropped it off Thursday morning. $450 to replace the axle seal. Friday evening they called saying there was damage to the differential and they would write up an estimate Monday.
Go the estimate today... going to replace my stock Dana 44 3.73 gears with a Jaspar rebuilt rear end - $3275 plus tax ($3600 plus). Also they want $695 for rear brakes, and another $635 if they need to replace the brake plate.
They sent me this video... honestly, I don't know what it's showing, how bad it is. They said the spider gears are chipped, metal fell out of the pumpkin cover when they opened it, and there were metal shavings all over it.
Differential
I have three times replaced the differential fluid, and have a felpro gasket on there. I asked why they would pull the diff cover to fix an axle seal, that didn't need to be done... they said it was the mechanic's decision to do that.
I would appreciate any advice.... and any alternatives for me to consider.... thanks in advance
This time I figured I would let the shop do it since I don't have a press.
Scheduled appointment and dropped it off Thursday morning. $450 to replace the axle seal. Friday evening they called saying there was damage to the differential and they would write up an estimate Monday.
Go the estimate today... going to replace my stock Dana 44 3.73 gears with a Jaspar rebuilt rear end - $3275 plus tax ($3600 plus). Also they want $695 for rear brakes, and another $635 if they need to replace the brake plate.
They sent me this video... honestly, I don't know what it's showing, how bad it is. They said the spider gears are chipped, metal fell out of the pumpkin cover when they opened it, and there were metal shavings all over it.
Differential
I have three times replaced the differential fluid, and have a felpro gasket on there. I asked why they would pull the diff cover to fix an axle seal, that didn't need to be done... they said it was the mechanic's decision to do that.
I would appreciate any advice.... and any alternatives for me to consider.... thanks in advance