kmobrien76

Rear main seal replacement cost at a shop for a '74, 350?

Kevin

Durango_Boy

Any good shop should be able to do it in an hour or two on a lift. Without knowing labor costs it's hard to guess total price. Call a few places, and get estimates.

Is this something you don't want to do on your own?

kmobrien76

I do not plan on doing it myself, I'll need a lift etc...

Stopped by one shop down the street, said about $500.

I work for a dealership but it's hard to get the tech's to do "big jobs" this sounds like a big job, they don't mind doing small stuff like oil changes, spark plugs etc...but $ talks, I'll get some estimates from a few shops then see if I can "woo" a tech at work to do it on the side for less...


Kevin

hugie82

Durango boy, How long does it take to change a rear seal? Lets go though this jack car up,pull drive shaft,pull trans crossmember,drain & pull trans,pull fly wheel,pull oil pan,pull oil pump (if needed),pull rear main,replace seal, CLEAN & SCRAPE ALL GASKETS,(while your there you may as well replace the main and rod bearings, high volume oil pump, front seal,filter & pan gasket on trans. Then finally reinstall everything 1 to 2 hours is not going to cut it. maybe 6 to 8 hrs assuming this car is an auto trans.

Durango_Boy

You added a bunch of steps that are not needed. You don't have to even TOUCH the drive shaft and the only part of the transmission that gets a wrench is the dust shield.

All you have to do is jack up the car, drain oil, remove oil filter, remove transmission dust shield, drop idler arm from frame which drops suspension, unbolt and drop oil pan, unbolt and drop rear main, push out and replace top half of seal, pull out and replace bottom half of seal, and put everything back up in the same order but backwards.

It's a good time to upgrade to a one piece oil pan gasket, and yes, a quick scrape of the oil pan gasket mating surface to clean it up before installing the pan is a good idea.

New filter and new oil, bolt the idler arm back up, and viola...DONE.

I did this just a few months ago, and it took me just under two hours from start to finish.

desi

I agree with Durango_boy. Besides, even if it takes a full day, who cares. Fairly easy job and good time to learn this kinda stuff. Also, a good opportunity to check everything else while under the vehicle.

Shops should be able to do this in less than 2 hrs.

S489

hugie may be thinking 1-pc seal

pws69

You have obviously never replaced a 2 piece rear main seal!

Durango has it pretty close. He did leave out the oil pump steps (remove, replace plastic coupling with a steel one, then reinstall it after you replace the main seal) - but that's easy.

Crossmember, drive shaft, trans, flywheel are NOT involved (unless you have nothing better to do while you are under there). That would eat up the other 4+ hours you speak of!

hugie82

Yes you guts are right!!! I have replaced both over the years and I got a little mixed up with the one piece and the two piece that you can slide the top half out and slip in a new one This is what happens when your 39 and a one year old screaming in your ear all night SORRY DURANGO BOY!!! MY BAD!!!

Durango_Boy

No problem at all friend. It's easy to get mixed up from time to time and that's why we're all here. If we see someone else slip up we can just point it out and all go on about our happy lives.

73 LS-4

time also depends on any aftermarket stuff on tht car that gets in the way and you always do a few while I'm at it's. Doing this job on my 69 took me about 4 hours on a rack but I had to remove my right side header since my idler arm bolt was too close to it to come all the way out and I changed it while I had it off, and put it back together with a slightly smaller bolt so this wouldn't happen again. I'm sure I could have knocked it out in 2-2.5 hours, without messing with the header or idler arm on a stock vette. My guess would be book time is probably 3-3.5 hours, and it would be silly to do this job wihout putting the new one piece oil pan gaskets on.


Pat Kunz

L82RedShark

Also you may consider rolling some new bearing in too. The most likely reason the rear main is leaking is that the bearings are worn and the crank is no longer centered in the seal. Doesn't take but a couple of thousandths of bearing wear to cause a leak. Plus you already have everything removed; might as well put new rods & main bearings and a new oil pump while you are at it.

sonnystingray

nice 74 Kevin, Looks a lot like mine.
My winter list is growing, which includes a transmission seal ( along with a complete headlight vacum replacement)

I am getting a lift for my garage , should deliver to 12/1 or I probably would have someone do it too.

Do you have any pics of your car?

kmobrien76

Not sure how to add pics, do tell, hahaaa

KO

Durango_Boy

Here you go.


http://photos.imageevent.com/durango...g%20Images.pdf

dr1

you might just wanna have a shop do it, that way if it gets screwed up and still leaks, you can go yell at them
i hear alot of people fudge the seal during install and waste their time completely

kmobrien76

My Vette:

http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff56/kmobrien76/

Kevin

Durango_Boy

Car looks good Kevin, but check this out. when you log into Photobucket, and you see all your thumbnails, just click on the lowest address, the one with the [IMG] tags. It will copy to your clipboard AUTOMATICALLY so all you have to do is click PASTE in the post you are making here, and you'll see that same link show up with [IMG] tags already on it. So long as it has those tags, the actual picture will show up instead of a blind link.

kmobrien76

Cool, was wondering how to do that!

TIA,

Kevin

funymuny

Replaced the rear main seal on my 82 a little over a year ago...full-service type of local mechanic. Close to $600, just under. Metro Atlanta....fwiw.

Mark