I'm getting quotes of 500 to 600 labor to replace shocks and springs.. seems high.. thoughts? I was thinking it would be 2 to 3 hours flat rate.

 

That's about right to me. Shock/spring swap is not a 2-3 hour job unless you've got it really down pat on these trucks specifically.

 

 

That'sthat's what I was thinking I'm no mechanic but with access to a lift I couldn't see that job taking me more than two two and a half hours

 

It would take me more than 3 hours because I'd be doing it with one bottle jack, and a bunch of jack stands, and I'd be taking a wire wheel to clean the crud off the spring perches and shock mount brackets before I sprayed them off with brake parts cleaner and repainted them. I'd be going down to the hardware store to replace all the crusty bolts and nuts with new ones. I'd be looking up torque values in the manual, and trying to squeeze the last drop of loctite out of the tube before I had to go to the store to get more.

But a simple swap for a shop with a lift shouldn't take more than you say. Were the shops general automotive shops or 4x4 specialty shops? You might try either type to see if they're more reasonable. You could also try an independent Land Rover mechanic to see if they'll do it for less. I think shops are just trying to make money and they don't want to get burned with an unfamiliar Land Rover that ends up taking hours longer than they quoted. They quote high to protect themselves.

 

The Atlantic British video on it walks you through the whole things. Save that money, you can do it in your garage or driveway with two jacks. I used one floor jack to raise the tire off the ground and the other to raise the body up to decompress the springs.

 

AllData lists labor at 1/hr for each front spring, 0.5 for each rear spring. That's 3 hours. Shock time is listed separate(even though we know it is a bit of a combo) at 0.8 for both front shocks, and 0.7 for both rear shocks. Total time for everything "by the book" is 4.5 billed hours. I would sell this job at probably 4.0 book time to make the tech and customer happy. Installing lifted springs and shocks is a hair longer time than standard(you're gonna need coil compressors, you're gonna need to unhook some lines and move **** for additional axle drop) Labor rate around 120 in your area maybe? That's now $480. Not including additional time for frozen nuts and bolts and other bull that adds time.

They aren't far off.

And while it may take Best4x4 2 hours, I don't think any hobby level mechanics are gonna be able to accomplish that on the ground in their driveway. It's a good 4-5 hours if you're doing it with hand tools and no lift.

Pick your battles I guess

 

Thanks. Found an Indy shop to do it for 395.. i think we will both go away happy

 

BTW I'm talking about doing it in a driveway, jack stands, bottle jack, and tools. Key is no rusty bolts!! Also when re-installing the front shock towers flip them around so the bolts can be removed in future.

Before you do anything loosen all the lower shock bolts, remove the rear brake line bracket, remove the shock towers nuts, and then lift it, remove the wheels, place on jack stands, drop the axle and the coils should basically fall out, re-installing new coil springs using a LR bottle jack to install new spring, install shock onto tower, install tower, line up lower shock bolts, you can then compress the shock (or keep them banded), then move onto the rear axle, which is much easier minus the shock towers, just make sure you remove the brake lane bracket to allow enough space to drop the axle.

I have done this in 2hr no problem. Like I said I've done way to many and just have a routine.

 

I did the rears in an hour...then took them back off.

When i put the 2 inch lift sping up against my stock worn spring, the new 2 inch lift spring was an inch shorter...

Back they went.

Now we have a terra firma setup, 2 inch lift. I think i spent 4 hours total, but i did clean everything, fixed a mudflap, and replaced the front shock perches.