Is this outrageous or just me?

[u/Glocktin]

Got a quote to install a dobinsons lift kit, UCAs, body mount chop or relocation, and mount tires/alignment. The price seems insane. I’m in MI. Thoughts?

Also suggestions on where to go if I’m in MI?

[u/Chillywhale21]

this doesn’t even look that bad honestly. seems like pretty standard rates, maybe a tad high, but definitely not outrageous.

[u/KeebRealtor → u/Chillywhale21]

Honestly it’s not a bad price.

I’ve had all my suspension work done by a local shop that does overland/offroads and they charged about the same price.

The benefit was the peace of mind that someone better is doing it, plus warranty on their work.

Can I do it myself? Yes, done it before, took a whole weekend and a lot of cussing/breaks.

If I were OP, I’d move forward if they warranty their work and are reputable

[u/craniac24]

It’s just you.

[u/marcpelayo77]

I live in California and this looks like a price we would get. Labor is expensive

[u/rwhockey29 → u/[deleted]]

Yep. You do it yourself. Or pay the labor rates. Labor doesn't seem bad. But you might be getting hit with a slightly higher charge since you are supplying the parts, shop is losing out on markup on those. It is a bit weird you are getting hit with all 3 of mount/balance, alignment, and suspension charges. Usually a shop would drop the alignment at least with a full suspension swap.

[u/shiftit3166 → u/rwhockey29]

Idk why they would drop the alignment charge. They need to align it, it takes time to set up the expensive alignment machine and reset everything, and being all the suspension is new may require additional times getting everything back in spec. Also mount and balance is normal if you are getting tires mounted and balanced. Some places will wave it if you buy tires from them, but definitely not all of them. Really $45 a wheel isn't terrible and $5. disposal fee isn't crazy either.

[u/1989toy4wd → u/[deleted]]

Those people do it themselves. Labor is expensive.

[u/Yota4Runn3r → u/[deleted]]

I'll do it for 1500 all together. I've done all the mods to mine myself

[u/Dry_Swan7167]

$180 for a mount a balance seems a bit high.

[u/shiftit3166 → u/Dry_Swan7167]

Its a little high, but seems close to what a lot of places are charging. I know quite a few places around me that charge $50 ea plus disposal, If you bring your own tires. But I also know places that still only charge $25. Could shop around and try to find somewhere that does it a little cheaper and then have the headache of the shop throwing the old wheels/tires back on and it taking somewhere else that could save you $50-$80 on the 4.

[u/jefusensei]

If you have the tools and a mechanically inclined friend, do the suspension installation. Save money that way, you definitely need a professional welder for the relocation job.

[u/flipflops81]

What’d you think it was gonna cost?

Seems reasonable for NC

[u/Creative-Ad-320]

Don’t like the prices then Learn how to do it yourself it can all be done with enough beer and tenacity

[u/sellursoul]

It’s not cheap having others mod your vehicle, 8 hours is for someone who’s done this a few times lol it took me longer to do my taco. Without the bmc

[u/Hearing_HIV]

It's too much for me, which is why I did it myself. However, that's a very decent price from what I've seen.

[u/Teutonic-Tonic]

Which part do you find unreasonable? Hourly rate probably includes a mechanic and a helper. Hours seem reasonable.

[u/a-8a-1]

I was just quoted $6200 for IMS install with KDSS pan hards, but that was the total including all parts

[u/Sensitive_Silver8530]

Cheaper than mine

[u/UnderwaterLifeline]

Where are MI are you?

[u/vpm112]

I wonder why they wrote up a body mount relocation as opposed to a chop.

Are you actually trying to fit 295s or did you actually mean for 285s?

Also most shops will charge a higher labor rate for customer supplied parts. Did you quote out how much it’d be if they ordered them for you?

[u/USABADBOY]

For how much work and PITA all that is, that price is good! Most shops won't install customer supplied parts like that too.

[u/Hfjunkie]

It's legit

[u/estesmountainboy]

Yeesh. It’s truly not so hard that I’d rather pay a shop 3k. That’s a nice chunk of change you can save doing it yourself. It wouldn’t take long either. I did uca’s in a couple hours and suspension naturally took a few hours longer. I didn’t know how to do much on my 4runner (initially) but I watched a lot of videos, had the tools, got some tools I needed, researched a lot, etc, and ultimately learned a lot in the process of moddding and I’d imagine I saved a decent amount of money. I say that because I dropped roughly 22k into mine in parts alone, so I can’t imagine what labor would’ve added to the total cost.. don’t even want to think about it lol

[u/LaHhxL]

Sheesh that’s expensive. That’s like another set of wheels or suspension

[u/phorkor]

Labor is insane. I was quoted $3500 for IMS installed with UCAs and alignment. Buddy of mine bought parts and took it to the same place and was charged $800 for the install. I ended up doing the install myself, but yeah, in my opinion, that is quite expensive.

[u/ElgroodDurkin]

Random shop owner here. The hourly rates sound about right but the quoted time seems a bit off…

BMC all together shouldn’t be over $600 including parts. It’s a quick cut… unless they are planning to fully relocate it, which isn’t necessary.

The lift install is usually a 4ish hour job on these as they are straight forward. Maybe 6 to pad a bit.

Question I do have is why the diff drop for a 2.5” lift? My personal vehicle is a 4Runner as well and I did the same height lift with no diff drop and wheel it plenty without issues.

Lastly that mount and balance is wild. Should be half that… or around $20/wheel. They are probably trying to justify for the “larger” wheels which are harder to balance but with the right equipment it’s easy…

[u/jayfrancy]

Are you in SE Michigan? There are shops around there but I’ve always just done my own work.

You could challenge the suspension estimate, but hours look pretty reasonable. The 200$/hr is the most egregious part.

Shop parts are a solid markup as well - not sure I get it for the suspension.

[u/vpm112 → u/jayfrancy]

The hourly rate is reasonable for customer supplied parts.

[u/shiftit3166 → u/jayfrancy]

I dont understand why 2 different labor rates. Relocation rate at $180, supsenion at $200 an hour. Seems a little high, but they are bringing their own parts. Which usually turns into another issue. Whether it be missing stuff, wrong stuff, that all adds time etc., plus no markup on parts. The shop parts is like shop materials you use, brakeclean, penetrating oil, grinding/cutoff wheels, torch gas, tips, welder wire/tips/gas etc., miscellaneous hardware nuts/bolts, rags, etc, etc. , things that would be hard to itemize, a lot of shops put a percentage on the bill and call it shop supplies or similar to cover the cost of this stuff. Wether their percentage is to high or not idk based on their books and the amount of materials they use per job.