Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 18:38:35 -0700
Reply-To: Danny <bruiserbabie@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Danny <bruiserbabie@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: automatic transmission replacement
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
That's the last thing I would have done- "Start to argue with the mechanic" before they work on my van. I have found that you get what you pay for and after all the vanagons are mostly 25 years old. I totally feel your frustration and I have been in your shoes before. I find that a little ass kissing and stopping by with donuts and always tipping the mechanic who worked on my van with a $50.00 cash tip and a $25.00 gift card. You get what you give in life. This is after all a VW...... Just think after its all done and you are driving down the road in your beloved van with a smile on your face you will think it was all worth the while. He may be charging you more because he has less experience and less confidents in his work then the guy from German trans axle. He is just covering his ass. You will get this job done and it will be in the past, you will get your finances back up and be ready for a good camping trip....
Just my 2 cents :-)
Danny
'84 Westy (Vanny)
--- On Wed, 7/1/09, Troy <colorworks@GCI.NET> wrote:
From: Troy <colorworks@GCI.NET>
Subject: automatic transmission replacement
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 3:50 PM
Hi folks:
I'm having a local shop here install a rebuilt transmission with a peloquin torqued biasing differential that Ken from German transaxle did for me. I have a Subaru 2.2 engine, and then the small car transmission cooler. I do know that the bell housing has to be modified to allow for a stud instead of a bolt in one location. The instructions from Vanaru states the hole must be enlarged to 25/64" and then some room needs to be made for the nut. I even went so far as to supply the drill bit to the shop + gave them written instructions. Now they are claiming the 4.4 hrs listed time does not include flushing the oil cooler. I just get the feeling these guys are trying to rip me off. Can any of the more experienced mechanics on the list tell me what they think is a reasonable amount of time to remove and replace the transmission and flush the oil cooler + enlarge one bolt hole? Ken told me he could generally do this in about three hours, and then maybe 30
minutes going really slow to drill out the bolt hole. He seems to think that four hours should cover things. The last quote I got from the shop was 6.5, and I argued with them adamantly about that. At $95 an hour it adds up. They now claim they will do it by the hour, but again I think they are coming up with excuses to raise the price. Any help or comments appreciated.
Troy
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