I'm upgrading to the Ls7 clutch, and at teh same time I'm going to put in the aluminum flywheel. Since I was doing that I thought it would be a good idea to install some shorter gears, most likely 4.10s, and a TA cover.

Wasn't too sure on the difficulty of install so I decided to call around and see what shops here wanted to install them. Looking throught he phone book I saw on etrucking company that mentioned high performance auto work on diffs so I called them.

After telling him the year and make of the car, plus the kind of and size of the rear end, he came back to me with a $700 price tag, and thats with me supplying parts! I laughed and asked him how, and all he said was the mehanic said there's a lot to remove Looking back there, I would think all you have to take off is the rear sway and maybe the PHR.

I called another shop and they wanted around $400. I haven't called any ls1 specific shops yet because I want to get the parts ordered first, but what is the difficulty in installing them myself. I know many people can install the girdle themselves, so it shouldn't be a problem with access to the area. But how about the gears? I've done all the work to my car previously, but I wouldn't want to deal with something that requires precision intruments if that's what they require.

If I should have someone else do it, what has everyone else paid for the job?

 

if you've never done it, get someone to do it for you. you need a dial indicator to measure backlash and inch pound torque wrench to measure rotating torque on the pinion.

 

Gear swaps should cost $250 at the most. You don't have to remove ANYTHING, just let the axle fully hang.

 

It's different for different parts of the country. Most around here go for $300, and I can see how it would be $400 in CA, but $700 is absolutely way too much. You don't have to remove anything but the rear cover AFAIK. Definitely get someone to install the gears.