Front knuckles starting to leak. Got the Marlin Crawler rebuild kit. Its beyond me to rebuild these, nor do I have the time. What kind of cost should I expect from the mechanic? Thank you!

 

Well most shops charge 75-100 an hour. Takes about four or five hours… or longer
Toyospear did a very good write up on doing this

 

Rebuilding knuckles is relatively easy and cheap. Like Jason said, Toyospearo has a nice write up and I have a few tips and tricks in my '83 build thread. I have found that the hardest part is literally taking them apart and getting everything cleaned up - assembly is a breeze! I would say that it is easily a day job for anybody with common wrenching skills. Here are a couple key tips if you decide to rebuild them yourself:
-Get a Factory Service Manual - the 1983 is available for download somewhere on here. If you can't find it, let me know and I can likely DropBox a copy to you. Every pickup owner should have a FSM.
-Get new cone washers and studs for the hubs - you typically destroy the cone washers when removing them so if you have new ones then you don't have to worry as much about preserving the old ones when you are removing them. TG has a stud kit with cone washers
-Might want to get the knuckle stud kit too, but those cone washers tend to come off easier than the hubs cones do
-LABEL YOUR SHIMS WHEN YOU REMOVE THEM - very important! As you take the knuckle shims off make sure you label them (top, bottom, driver and passenger) so that when you go to reassemble you don't have to find or buy a knuckle alignment tool.
-All you need is basic tools plus a 54mm socket for the wheel bearing adjusting/lock nuts (I used a standard socket that fit), some brass drifts, snap ring pliers and a fishing scale to adjust the wheel bearing preload.
-Might as well install new brake rotors while you have them apart
-USE JAPANESE BEARINGS - don't go with cheap Chinese garbage or you'll be doing this again shortly
-If you decide to clean/rebuild your hub lucks, make sure that you don't lose the detent bearing and springs in the hub dials (I did...) and if you do let me know and I can mail you a couple of the ball bearings needed since I had to buy 100 of them to replace the 2 that I needed.

If you do decide to pay somebody to do this, make sure that they know exactly what they are doing. Cheap isn't always good, especially when I comes down to the parts that keep you truck rolling straight down the road.

 

thank you Sir!!!

 

I was quoted right @ 1000.00 to have it done on our 80 series Land Cruiser. This included:

1. All seals
2. All gaskets
3. Trunion bearings
4. Turn rotors/drums
5. Replace shoes/pads
6. New wheel bearings
7. Inspect ft brake system
8. Clean locking hubs
9. All parts cleaned and painted
10. Front axle cleaned and painted

Its a local company, and all they do is bruisers.

 

Good tips from kawazx686.....another tip I discovered by accident is that if you heat up the area around the cone washers with a propane torch they will pop right off......doesn't take much heat and be careful because some of them popped off with high velocity so don't stand directly in front....just off to the side while heating....ask me how I know.....and this way you can reuse them once they cool down.

 

Thanks guys for all the help. I got a marlin kit and the new V6 rotor kit. Im going to have a shop here in La Habra ca install for me. They charge $80 dollars a hour. They sounded like they do it often enough for me to feel comfortable having them do it.