Just had a rather bigger bill than I was hoping for swapping the gearbox.
So I have some more idea of whether/how much I'm being ripped off, anyone got any official times for swapping a gearbox/T-box in a disco I V8?, and also, anyone got opinions on how long a decent;ly-equipped garage should take to do the job?
Included changing the clutch (easy once the box is out).
The vehicle is standard except for the exhaust, but the exhaust comes apart in much the same way as a standard one.
On or around Mon, 7 Mar 2005 09:49:48 +0000, Marc Draper enlightened us thusly:
the intended swap of the box for a Rangie one was aborted early one 'cos the selectors are different, which was found out early on in the process once the box was out. I then sourced a recon box, and did all the t-box swapping and so forth. so not much.
not with them, no.
sequence of events at the garage went like this:
remove box
remove gear lever from existing box
remove gear lever from Rangie box
find that they won't swap
phone me, and tell me.
replace gear lever on Rangie box so it could be taken back
they then had a gap over friday and the weekend while I hunted a box and delivered same first thing monday (about 7:30), assembled and pretty much ready to fit.
remove old clutch, fit new clutch
replace gearbox
fill oils.
replace reversing light switch which arrived just at the very end of the job. (about 10 minutes-worth, at most)
7-10 took them over a day. Why, I have no idea.
hmmm. Labour charge 300 plus vat. I reckon it's a piss-take.
On or around Mon, 7 Mar 2005 13:05:21 +0000, Marc Draper enlightened us thusly:
I'm gonna be having words. I don't see why refitting a 'box takes more than a day.
If I'd have known he was looking at that sort of money I'd have done the job meself - I reckon I'd have done it in 2 days; the main objection was that I don;t have the hoist and so forth, and it's cold and wet weather for crawling around on the floor. Also, is initial guess at price was a lot lower than the final bill. I'll certainly want to know how many hours he's charging for.
Out of interest, anyone know what the "Official" factory time for a gearbox swap is?
On or around Mon, 07 Mar 2005 16:36:52 +0000, Colonel Tupperware enlightened us thusly:
aha. I thought it'd be about that. I reckon, with the right gear, I could do it in a day. Beats me how they took more than a day to refit the bloody thing.
We charge (independant LR garage) about £300 labour for a G/box and clutch change, this normally includes the time to fit a new transfere gear as well. Next door to us - LR main dealer at £84 per hour x 5.9hrs = £495 + vat!!!!!!!
When my 4 speed lost reverse gear the cost was £420 total to remove gearbox and Xfer box (goes downwards after removing x-member) and fixing metal before reinstalling with new clutch and primary bearing? and new slave cylinder. I think the labour part of the equation (gearbox out and back) was £280+. From a gearbox specialist company local to me (Portsmouth).
Not wanting to get involved in a particular case, it is worth mentioning that some (actually quite a lot of) garages regard their ramp(s) being tied up as costing them - which it does if they have to knock back another job while waiting for parts to arrive. If the delay is down to the customer they may decide to pass the cost on. We certainly have customers where every ramp is booked up all day, and any major delays mean overtime has to be paid to catch up. This may not necesserily do a lot for customer relations, but bank managers and mortgage providers would approve........ ;-)
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