I recently had the dealership tell me my rear diff needs to be completely rebuilt. Of course they will do it, but for about $1400. Im wondering if I should be shopping around for somebody to rebuild my diff, or if I should find a used one and have somebody replace the entire rear end. Hopefully somebody can send me in the right direction.

 

1400 is steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep a good shop should be around 800 or so if you have a open rear diff and not l/s.

 

I'm always surprised when I hear that people have a rear-end problem. These are probably the most over engineered item on any car or truck. Think of how much extra H/P we push through a stock rear-end with no problems. You didn't mention how many miles, type of use, or what the problem is. I'm just curious. Also, since rear-ends generally don't give much trouble and most people don't go back to the dealer after warranty, I would be surprised if anybody at the dealership has much experience rebuilding them.

 

The bearings in my 2000 F150 went south at 66,000. Unfortunatly, I was on the road 700 miles from home, so I went to a Ford dealer. I would NEVER do that at home. It cost me $1000.00.Four years ago had exactly the same job on my 98 Explorer by independent in town, $485.00. In talking with the mechanic at the dealership I found out they are not suprised to see bearing failure at 20,000. So much for over engineering. Neither of these vehicles were used for other than transportation with light loads.