Rear Shocks / 4-wheel Alignment - Labor Hours

skizot722

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OK, so the lengthy title pretty much says it all. :) I'm wanting to know what the labor hours (as in what a shop/dealership has on the books for the job) are for replacing the rear shocks on an LS, plus a 4-wheel alignment. Thanks.
 
OK, no replies. Let me phrase the question a little differently then. :D What kind of labor were you guys charged for shock replacement and/or alignment?
 
I'm not getting my alignment checked til spring when I install springs. But I'm doing the install, so no idea on labor. Should not take more than a couple hours for a capable shop to do the rear shocks.
 
I'm not getting my alignment checked til spring when I install springs. But I'm doing the install, so no idea on labor. Should not take more than a couple hours for a capable shop to do the rear shocks.

Thanks. I was going to do the rears myself, but if it's only an hour worth of labor (as opposed to my 6 hours in the driveway), then I'd rather just have the shop do it. That's why I was just trying to get some numbers back from people who've paid to have it done, or that know what the shop manual says for labor.
 
I know the guys on here can do a full set of springs in 4 hours in the garage at home. So I think my original estimate of 2 hours is a little on the liberal end. It SHOULD take less time than that. But you may need to find a shop that will go by the actual time, not the "shop manual time".
 
Thanks. The reason I keep quoting "shop manual" time is that I was probably going to take it to the stealership here in town.

A question about the procedure though. So with the center nut, is that a throw-away nut, or is it re-usable? I'm talking about the one on top that holds the plate down to keep the spring on.
 
Honestly, I haven't even looked at it yet. I have the springs sitting in the garage, and haven't had my hood open since they came in.

I hope someone with the answer can chime in.
 
We re-used mine when we did the Eibach springs with the stock shocks.

If the person knows how to use a spring compressor and some air tools, I can't see it taking more than an hour. I think it took us an hour to swap the 4 springs.
 
We re-used mine when we did the Eibach springs.

If the person knows how to use a spring compressor and some air tools, I can't see it taking more than an hour. I think it took us an hour to swap the 4 springs.

Thanks for the reply. I would really like to do this myself, and am definitely capable of doing it. My biggest concern, believe it or not, is getting the car jacked up safely and high enough. The way I understand it, the LS only has 4 jacking points on the rear. One on each side for the stock jack. These points are out of the question for a floor jack, and jack-stand, as the design doesn't allow for either without crushing this area. The other two jack points look to be on each side of the sub-frame. This would be a good place for my 3-ton floor jack, but that leaves me with no place to put the jack-stand.

I was going to just rent a spring compressor from the auto parts store. I've heard that there are different types, and a specific type should be used with the LS. Any ideas on that? Also, you mention air tools; is an air ratchet really necessary, or can I get away with a break-over bar?

Picture of the jacking points from another thread:

attachment.gif
 
You can use hand tools. Don't see why not. We did mine at a friend's shop that obviously has a lift and air tools.
 
You can use hand tools. Don't see why not. We did mine at a friend's shop that obviously has a lift and air tools.

LOL. See, that seems to be what everyone does that does it themselves. They have access to a lift somehow, or the other.

If you had to guess, how much room is actually required to get the rear shocks out from under the vehicle? Meaning, how high am I going to have to jack it up to get the shock out.
 
Can't recall, man. I don't think it's all that much. I would think enough so that the wheels are off the ground should work?
 
You can reuse the nut, but a new nut comes with the new shock.

Any normal jack will work to get the shock out. Jack up in the normal spot, just use a strong piece of wood with larger jacks (3 ton) to avoid destroying the jack point and it will be fine. A smaller jack will fit in the spot fine.

Having 2 people helps as sometimes you need to stand on top of, or jack up the control arm to line up and get the new shock back in. There's not much space in back, and be sure to note the orientation of the shock/spring as it has to go back in the same way. The best way is to mark one of the 4 bolts on top.

I'd say 2-3 hours based on experience and available tools to do just the rears.
4 wheel alignment will be around $100 pretty standard.

Did you replace the front shocks already? If not, do them all at the same time.
 
You can reuse the nut, but a new nut comes with the new shock.

Any normal jack will work to get the shock out. Jack up in the normal spot, just use a strong piece of wood with larger jacks (3 ton) to avoid destroying the jack point and it will be fine. A smaller jack will fit in the spot fine.

Having 2 people helps as sometimes you need to stand on top of, or jack up the control arm to line up and get the new shock back in. There's not much space in back, and be sure to note the orientation of the shock/spring as it has to go back in the same way. The best way is to mark one of the 4 bolts on top.

I'd say 2-3 hours based on experience and available tools to do just the rears.
4 wheel alignment will be around $100 pretty standard.

Did you replace the front shocks already? If not, do them all at the same time.

Thanks for the info.

For anyone who cares, I found a unibody floor jack adapter. This thing should come in handy.

p2406.jpg
 
It took about 2-1/2 hours for me and a buddy to put the eibach on my LS. We did not have a lift, but did use an air rachet. We also used just a general screw type spring compressor. The alignment cost me $60.
 

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