ok i broke down and took my 99 xj to the pros here in fenton michigan...ive done all the work on it and im a greenhorn to say the least...for 40bucks they went over the whole rig...and the results are in; i put a 4.5" lift on it and the grinding in 4high and regular 2wd..had me wondering how bad was my issue with the Transfer Case??? Well they said all that i had done at least i did it right..from the lift to the tc drop ect..however they said i am in need of a new TC..with a SYE..and i will then need to get a new drive shaft as well to fit the new SYE.....1400$ for labor and parts...

its my daily driver and i havent ever really beaten it up...my question is this;;

is that a fair price? what can i do to prevent any further damage?

sorry to be so long winded thanks for your wisdom..
God Bless,
D.DAYII

 

I personally think thats pretty pricey....do you have the NP-231 or the 242? What I would do is just get a junkyard transfercase and crack it open clean it out with new fluid and check the chain to make sure it was good. After that I'd buy the Sye which is only around $250 and a tom woods drive shaft. Unless you want a new re-manufatured transfercase. Thats up to you.

 

231=250 at the most
SYE=250 most
Driveshaft=100-150?
thats 650 at the most just for parts.
Then you have to take into account labor.
say 1.5 hours to remove tcase, about 2 hours to put the sye in, another 1.5 to put tcase back in, .5-1 for driveshaft.
At 50 an hour (what a local shop charges) thats 300.


Sounds about right...

 

Don't expect $50/hr for labor. I'm sure that places can be low, but here, you wouldn't want to go to a shop that charges $50/hr.

One thing you could do is get all the parts yourself if it is cheaper and have the shop do the work for you so you don't have to do it. Cause your an open greenhorn, it'll take you well more time then what the books say it will for mechanics.

 

What's wrong with $50/hour? My brother in law and I charge 40-50/hour at our shop.

 

The shops around here that I would trust taking my vehicles to are around $85 an hour.

 

Most places here in nh are up to about $75 an hour.

 

Same around here...It varries. But if I were you id definetly get all the parts myself and if there was no way of being able to do the job then take it in the shop. It will be at least cheaper that way.