clutch replacement excessive cost

Wrong sub -form.

However total sounds right to me: $3085. I don't know about 21 hours of labor @ 135. Where are the parts in the total?

 

I don't know what you can do sorry your upset.

The labor is a little high but not so far out of line that I would make a case of it. I know basic fee most shops including the ones I worked in was 10hr. But almost always went up from there because like you many drivers let the clutch wear out too far needing flywheel machined, crank seal, and input shaft. Adding those things in the price is not that far out of line. Parts prices look really fair.

 

I think what he is saying is he bought the parts and took them to the shop to be installed. Eaton gave me a clutch for my 389 and Peterbilt installed it. I did a lot of business with Pete so they charged me actual time. 7 hours, they did put one of their better mechanics on the job. I think they beat him up pretty good. As far as doing anything I would say chances are slim to none. Had a shop in NY do something similar to me. When my driver paid the bill the State Police were standing right there. The police knew he was screwing me and could of cared less. Blind justice!

 

so that's just labor and no parts for 3085 bucks, ya got ripped off, no way its 21 hours, maybe it took them that long but that's totally off.

but if you provided the parts, why did you hand them the parts before they gave you the cost??

 

By flywheel cover, do you mean the flywheel housing on the back of the engine? Changing flywheel housings isn't just a matter of just swapping it out. They have to be aligned to the crank, it varies depending on the chassis and how hard it is to get the engine mount bolts out, it takes some time. Flywheel housing and input shaft kit could add 4-5 hours to a basic clutch job, maybe a little more.

I'd say 16 hours is fair if they ran into difficulties. No excuse for not providing an estimate, worst case scenario, they should have given you an estimate to pull the transmission, clutch and flywheel, then give you a full estimate when they could see everything that it needed.

One problem is that you gave them the parts, so that could be taken as fix the truck. You should have told them that you want an estimate first, then give them the parts. Personally, I would have questioned why they charge $135/hr before I let work on it. That's very high. Around here, dealerships charge $100-110/hr and that's high.

 

"Yep, you got screwed, I can do clutches in 18 hours..."
"18, hours, I am the best, I can do clutches in 15 hours..."
"15 hours, I have been doing clutches for 100 years, I can them in 9 hours...."
"9 hours, I changed my own clutch in my stone driveway with a car jack in 5 hours..."
"5 hours! Anyone paying more than 20 minutes labor for a clutch job is getting ripped off big time, 15 minute job, 19 tops!!!"

These threads are all the same.