When did driveshaft work become so expensive?

[joesregalproject]

The center carrier support bearing in my 95 F150 needed swapped out, so I pulled the driveshaft and called around. I figured while it was out, I'd have the shop inspect the yokes and u joints and balance it. I called three different shops and all of them wanted $200! Luckily I knew a guy who knows a guy who replaced the bearing, checked the u joints and yokes, balanced both halves and greased it up for $75.

When did it get so expensive though?Hell, I remember several years back I had a driveshaft made from scratch when I put a 14 bolt in my 1/2 ton Chevy and I think it was only $225 or so. What are you guys paying for driveshaft work?

PS- if you're in the Pittsburgh area, AVOID Driveline Service of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville. I've heard of some real junk coming out of there. If you need a recommendation, PM me.

 

[FastCraig]

The center carrier support bearing in my 95 F150 needed swapped out, so I pulled the driveshaft and called around. I figured while it was out, I'd have the shop inspect the yokes and u joints and balance it. I called three different shops and all of them wanted $200! Luckily I knew a guy who knows a guy who replaced the bearing, checked the u joints and yokes, balanced both halves and greased it up for $75.

When did it get so expensive though?Hell, I remember several years back I had a driveshaft made from scratch when I put a 14 bolt in my 1/2 ton Chevy and I think it was only $225 or so. What are you guys paying for driveshaft work?

PS- if you're in the Pittsburgh area, AVOID Driveline Service of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville. I've heard of some real junk coming out of there. If you need a recommendation, PM me.

I had a steel (stronger & lighter than stock) driveshaft made in Charleston WV for an F body Z28 1 1/2 years ago for $175.00. Was very pleased with their work. Even painted it and stuck their logo on it.

 

[81cutlass]

I'm all for paying decent money for an actual skilled shop to do stuff specialty like head work, block machining ect. I maintain driveshaft work is the most overpriced skilled, not really that skilled automotive business. Driveshafts are not THAT precise. It's not like cage work were everything is built to spec, or engine machining where everything is decently tight tolerance.

The only special part of driveshaft mfg is the balancing. Otherwise ±1/8 on length is fine. Turn the heat up and wire down and weld the yokes to the tube, both stock components. I shortened the stock driveshaft on my 2+2 with literally just clamping a hose clamp around the shaft as a guide, grinding it to cut it shorter (a $200 portaband saw would do better), mocked the driveshaft up in the car by putting the yoke in the trans and U joint in the rear, and stuck a magnetic indicator on the floor board, rotated the driveshaft to get the runout out, and welded it with a normal mig. It shook a little over 60mph (totally unbalanced) and ended up replacing it only for the strength. If I had a balancer, which isn't a complicated device by any means, you never would have known it wasn't professionally done.

The cost of a custom length new driveshaft for hotrod stuff is outrageous. It's impossible to get into a decent custom length drive shaft for under $400 basically from any major online supplier. Basically get lucky and have a truck shop do it, some local guy that is a friend of a friend, or find a used OE one thats the right length. Found out about nascar driveshafts on ebay, various lengths, big 1330/1350 u joints and cheap. Going that route from now on.

Rant for the day.

 

[melloelky]

i got a quote from my long time local drive line shop for my a 3" aluminum shaft.spec'd the same shaft from denny's same price except theirs was high speed balance where's the local place was just a static balance.what's the difference between a shop that builds dump truck shafts and one that builds hot rod shafts?i don't know.either way it's pricey.the largest and cheapest part of the shaft is the tube,why so much money then?ones tig'd the other ones mig's? big deal..

 

[fleming442]

I just paid $177 for a new one on the Pig. That included a new tube and u-joints.

 

[Doug Chahoy]

On a previous project Driveline Services shortened and balanced my driveshaft for $65.00. No drama

 

[joesregalproject]

On a previous project Driveline Services shortened and balanced my driveshaft for $65.00. No drama

I'm sure some of their work is okay, otherwise they wouldn't be in business. But I've heard enough "through the grapevine" horror stories to keep me away.

 

[Turbo Zach]

Two years ago I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The u-joint was a little loose and I had a bad vibration. I found out Jeeps have nonreplaceable u-joints. I could not get any one to press new ones in my shaft and peen them in. They want 900 bucks for a new shaft. I had a complete drive shaft made with replaceable u-joints for 500 bucks. It did not fix the vibration. We ended up trading it off shortly after that. A lot of transportation trouble with that one too. That qured me of buying another new Jeep!

 

[Local Hero]

I've had three custom driveshafts made over the last several years, all at the same shop, and they were all in the $200 range. One a few $$ more and another that was mostly a shorten job but with a different yoke and one new u-joint was a little less.

 

[Ribbedroof]

Since we're on a labor rant, story follows

10 months ago we bought a new refrigerator. Of course, you really can't buy one with no frills in a decent size and price range, so we wound up with ice/water in door, along with a touchpad control system which included a display for temp in both freezer/refrig. Noticed about a month ago that one of the segments in the display was out. First call to Lowes they said no problem, warranty will handle it, but nobody services your location (pretty rural)...so we'll send out a new refrigerator. Didn't really want to deal with all the baggage of "what do we do with all this cold stuff while the new one cools".

Eventually we got them to make an effort and they set up a warranty replacement for the touchpad panel. Wife was home for the repair...she said he was literally done in 5 minutes. The billed ticket? $60 trip charge (he earned it on our shitty road), $96 labor. Makes our $48 door rate at the shop look like a joke, and we have to fight to get every tenth.

Long story short, labor is getting expensive, but remember the guy actually doing it typically does not see anywhere close to that.