904 Rebuild

-
Hankrebel

Hankrebel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
211
Reaction score
13
Location
Long Beach,MS
Im no transmission guy by any means.
I took my 71 Swinger in to have the 904 auto rebuilt by a reputable shop.
The guy called me today and said the trans has never been serviced or opened, that he can tell, in the 40 years of its existence.
He suggested it be totally rebuilt with all new bushing, plates, bearings and etc. and I agreed
Im having him go ahead with the TF-2 shift kit while he is already in it.

Total cost with labor out the door is $1,400. What have others seen with a rebuild like this?
 
Do it yourself, it's EASY!

IMHO, $1400 is stupid expensive.
 
He's reputably raping you. Should be no more than $1000 More like $5-700

Non-'transmission-guys' ace these f8ckers in a weekend. Just a thought.

Toughest part is pulling it out and putting it back in. I use ratcheting tie down straps splayed across the torsion bars..

That 'rebuild kit and shift kit' is under $300 in parts, it ain't $1100 in labor...

You know what I see with this? A ho-hum rebuild slapped together, with no proof of any upgrades, tolerances tightened or clearances inspected and verified in a build sheet flopping to and fro.

Why I do my own work.
 
Sorry to be harsh, I HATE when these clowns try to get one over on people! He better toss in a real nice 9.5" converter for that price!
 
I am no "transmission guy" either, but rebuilt a Mopar A-413 "Torque-flite", then an A-604 (4-spd). I had disassembled the A-413 for forensic evaluation, which gave me the assurance I could do one for real. Both work fine ~4 yrs later.

Better results than I can say for my experience w/ shops. One Aamco in Atlanta told me they had no one at that shop who could rebuild a tranny. So they take people's money for exactly what?
 
I'm no transmission guy either. The one in my Barracuda is leaking from the front pump seal. My friend who has a shop said if I pull it and buy parts. He will do whatever I need done for $150. He said if he had to R&R the trans. it would be another $100. I priced a re-build kit and shift kit and I think it was under $250. I know a lot of guys on here say they are easy to re-build. I might give it a try. I don't know,yet. But, I think what your guy is quoting you is to much.
 
DAMN HE BETTER PAINT THE CAR AS WELL I paid $550.00 for a 904 rebuilt and installed
 
I forgot to add the stall converter needs to be replaced as well as most of the teeth are rounded off. Higher stall converter than stock but not a 2500.
 
"stall converter needs to be replaced as well as most of the teeth are rounded off."
I'm guessing this is the ring gear?These are cheap and easy to replace.

For us to give an opinion with this new info, you need to separate out the various costs.IE; the RnR is $www, and the tranny build is $xxxx, and the TC is $yyyyy, and the ring gear replace is $zzzzz, etc
 
Is he also R&R'ing the trans? Even if he is and your 904 needs a lot of hard parts that's crazy expensive. Look on www.coperacing.com and you'll see a Cope performance 904 with real good parts only sells for about $800. You can get a converter like you described for about $200-250. I've been rebuilding torqueflite's for 34 yrs. and unless the trans needed a bunch of hard parts I can't see the "out the door" price being over $700 built like you described. This guy is hosing you bad!!!
 
What's the labor rate now? Up around 100 an hour in most places I know. That job is probably rated at between 10-15 hours including R&R, disassembly, cleaning and assembly. Have yall priced transmission kits lately? They ain't goin down.

I was thinkin 1400 wasn't terrible. That's about what we got when I ran the office at a friend's transmission shop for a couple of years. Overdrives started out around 2K give or take and up. If you don't know how to do something, you pay somebody.

While agree the Torqueflite is one of if not the easiest transmission to build, his price for the whole job in a decent amount of time with a good warranty isn't out of line. Yall should see what some of these newer Nissan transmissions go for. Between 3500-5500 bucks.

If the shop is talking about a COMPLETE rebuild and R&R WITH CONVERTER they are about on target.
 
I know I paid a place $2157 to rebuild the trans in my wife's honda a few years ago--new innards, plus out and in...but, I was kinda stuck at the time...so I paid it. $1400 is a lot of money by my pocketbook too, but RRR is correct...labor rates are up these days, and you still gotta charge X number of hours for work performed, and it's based on standard rates.
 
Just had my 904 rebuilt last March. $525 complete including new torque converter.
 
Ive had a short conversation with him yesterday.
Yes most of the hard parts need to be replaced.
TC needs to be replaced
Complete rebuild with new TC to include the TF-2 shift kit and new kickdown cable
 
I've done two stock rebuilds on my 904, together they cost under 500. Im
Including the second time when I destroyed the converter, and the tail shaft.
 
I rebuild/refresh mine(my personal winter-beater trannys)for next to nothing. I have a stack of cores. No race trannys though. Just basic transportation with a TF2, and 2500ish TC. I reuse as much as possible.Call me sick, I dont care. That 904 is barely more complicated than a 4 course meal.Take it out in the AM, back in before supper.
At one time I had 4 spares ready to go.
 
I paid 600$ for a 727 completely rebuilt with a new shift kit and it came with a 2500 stall converter. There is no way I would pay what that guy is asking especially for just a rebuild and not the price for the core.
 
Is he doing a stock rebuild or updating to HP parts like Cope offers? Plus, ask what his labor rate is. The price isn't out of line for the job asked for, unless its an oem build, which lowers the parts cost somewhat. Ask what the warranty is.

I've not seen 50-60@hr labor rates in a very long time. Everything is hovering around the 100 mark now days.
 
I've done a few of these and have never had to replace all the hard parts in one.

Very occasionally a drum or planetary, never everything. Sounds and smells like manure.
 
RustyRatRod said:
What's the labor rate now? Up around 100 an hour in most places I know. That job is probably rated at between 10-15 hours including R&R, disassembly, cleaning and assembly. Have yall priced transmission kits lately? They ain't goin down.

I was thinkin 1400 wasn't terrible. That's about what we got when I ran the office at a friend's transmission shop for a couple of years. Overdrives started out around 2K give or take and up. If you don't know how to do something, you pay somebody.

While agree the Torqueflite is one of if not the easiest transmission to build, his price for the whole job in a decent amount of time with a good warranty isn't out of line. Yall should see what some of these newer Nissan transmissions go for. Between 3500-5500 bucks.

If the shop is talking about a COMPLETE rebuild and R&R WITH CONVERTER they are about on target.
Click to expand...

I was doing 2.5 of them a day with all new bushings, washers and/or needle bearings included.
I also had all the parts on hand already, and shift kits added an hour.
We also rebuilt planetary sets in house, so steel ones were easy to come by.
My R&R buddy Gus (Gustavo) could have them sitting out on the bench in 20 min or less, and back in and running was about 30 minutes.

At 2,800 a day or more maybe I should get back into it.:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top