Well, this is Non-Chevelle, but since its my brother, its kinda related :p

Anyway, my brother had some problems with his 1995 Toyota Tacoma Pickup...

Turns out he pinion bearings were gone...

But the gears were fine, and so were the carrier bearings... He asked about replacing the carrier bearings (100,000+ miles) and was told no reason to do it...

Its a drop-out carrier (like a 9-inch), and two estimates were $750 and $900+ (for just labor from smaller independant shops). He already had it done, just wondering if they bent him over (~$1000 with parts)...

Just seemed really high price to me, anyone have any experience, are these a pain?

Tony, That seems like a high price to me...Also I wonder why they wouldnt replace the carrier bearings while they were at it? If the pinion bearings went out there probably were little pieces of metal mixed in with the grease, that grease was lubing the carrier bearings and since it had over 100,000 miles on it I would surely think the bearings were worn. Just my thoughts...Steve

Tony

Sounds like rape to me.

What about buying a take out center section on Ebay??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYOTA-TRUCK-4RUNNER-4-56-GEARS-DROPOUT-CENTER-SECTION_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33731QQihZ015QQ itemZ250034784951QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYOTA-TRUCK-4RUNNER-4-10-GEARS-DROPOUT-CENTER-SECTION_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33731QQihZ015QQ itemZ250035125686QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

i think he got bent over also. i hope they gave him the bill with a smile. tom

Labor on a typical 10-bolt/12-bolt GM rear-end in Santa Clara, CA at a highly recommended shop is $225 (or it was a few years ago). That's for a complete rebuild. A timken bearing set for a '95 Toyota can't be that much can it? Maybe $200 at the high end?

Your brother probably got bent over the table. That cost seems really high. But, then again fixing foreign vehicles always seems to be expensive. Maybe someone will chime in that had similar work done on a Toyota pick-up.

they are not a pain,just time consuming.i work at a toyota dealership and have done my share of yota rears.we charge 6.0 hrs.to rebuild the carrier at dealer labor rates.it is best to replace carrier bearings also due to metal shavings finding their way into the cages.parts are not cheap at the dealer as we all know.700-900$ is about right.