Been stewing on this and after sleeping on it here is my thinking (sorry its a veeeeery long post)....
I am sure that if I looked long enough I could find a shop that would do it cheaper. But its really just shooting in the dark....no shop is going to want to quote me a firm price without opening up the tranny and seeing what is going on for themselves. How much is my time worth searching for a shop to save a couple hundred bucks?
This is why I asked around extensively before calling a shop.....unfortunately, all I can go by is word of mouth.....the first guy was recommended as was the second.....the first place just didn't feel right to me for some gut reason....mostly it was him charging me $180 for a $65 kit that started it and him not seeming to have the right answers for questions I had.....The fact that this second shop is about the same price but includes "better" bands, clutches and steels (even if I dont "need" them) makes me feel a little better. Them being so similar in price tells me that while this may not be a "deal" of a price, it is probably indicative of the going rate in my neck of the woods for established tranny shops. I paid $3k to get a rebuilt trammy for my 94 Ford Exploder while on vacation one year, so $1,000 feels like a discount....LOL
I cant go in there and tell the guy how to build the thing, any more than I could come to your shop Terry and tell you....I can certainly ask questions and tell them what I think I want...for instance, the 3.8 lever.....this guy feels I wont need it with the other stuff he is doing but will put it in if I want. (I think I still want it...so where can I find one?)
I have to trust you as the builder....and just like you shouldn't come down hard on the chef preparing your meal at a restaurant for obvious reasons , or try and take your own eggs an bacon to a restaurant and expect them to cook them up, I don't think it would be a good idea to go to this guy and say "hey, some folks I trust online feel you are over-charging me by $300."...His response will be "Then have those folks rebuild your transmission.".......I could walk at this point and search again for a shop that can bet trusted that will charge me less....but the fact that this shop has already opened it up and would likely want "something" for the time they have into it now, which is only fair. So there goes any savings.
Really, tranny shops have the consumer by the balls...its a specialized trade that holds a certain amount of "magic" to it for most consumers.....understandably, they cant give you a definite price until they actualy start working on the unit to see whats inside.... you have to trust the shop, not only to do what they say they will do for the price they initially quote you but also that they are putting in what they say they are........I wont know whats in my tranny for sure now unless I open it up and tear it down after the fact .......
This shop knows I know the guy who feeds them a lot of business , so my thinking is that while they will certainly make a profit here, they aren't going to completely screw me, or at least that is what I am hoping. They are also a national franchise......which probably means a higher price than the little guy looking to get customers in a hard economy or a private individual doing work like this on the side.
So in the end, I am a bit at the mercy of this shop. I accept that at this point. I need my tranny redone and don't feel confident in doing it myself...I have enough learning going on with the rest of my car. Maybe the next time around I will attempt redoing a tranny myself.....for now, I will cross my fingers, hope for the best and hope I don't end up singing "moon river" (Fletch reference for those old enough to remember the film...LOL)
Thanks guys for looking out for me and having my back...the advice and insight gained here is invaluable!
I will keep everyone posted as this progresses...hopefully the rebuild goes smoothly and all I have to come back and ask is cooler and kickdown questions!
