Rear end went out on my 2007 Mustang GT. 113K miles. Had to have it towed, took it to a shop that specializes in rear end work. Was told that a tube inside my rear axle broke, messed some things up, and now I need an entire rear end assembly with the rear axle, diff, etc. Quoted me 2500 for the parts and 500 for labor. Does this seem excessive? Any places where I can get a used or reman rear end assembly? I am new to Mustangs but I am fairly certain it should not cost that much.... any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

TL;DR: I have questions about the pricing, and it's complicated. And long. 'Cause I can type like the wind...

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First off: I really really wish to emphasize that I am not calling them anything nasty or nefarious or any other thing like that there. They know their stuff if they're specialists in rear ends of cars. And that usually means a bit more money because of that. Still... I have questions about that 'more' part...

Ok, first off, you or they probably meant 'axle shaft'. There's no tubes in the axle. There's tubes that make up the axle housing, but unlikely you broke those... with one exception. The bearing seats at the ends near the wheels. You mess those up, the tubes have to be milled to accept oversized bearing replacements, which are available.

I'm thinkin' that's not the case here without pics to prove it, so pressing on without that being a thing.

Here's how an axle looks, in several pictures:

https://iihs.net/fsm/?d=93&f=Axle%20Shaft.pdf
https://iihs.net/fsm/?d=93&f=Differe...arings.pdf&p=2
https://iihs.net/fsm/?d=93&f=Drive%2...ion%20Seal.pdf

So what you see in there, briefly, are these major components:
Axle housing, which contains:
Differential, ring gear, pinion (and cover) in the center section.
Axle shafts, bearings, seals, and hubs in the tubes from the center section.
And the last picture is the pinion flange assembly.

Now, assuming there's nothing wrong with the housing itself (center and two tubes), then the issue is something did break and wind up trashing the entire center section. And that's the rebuild part.

Going to AM because I just picked it, these are the current parts and pricing to rebuild it, not including labor, from top to bottom... or left to right anyway... and today it's all on sale:

Axle shafts, bearings and seals, kit, complete, L&R - $261
Rear ABS Rings (x2) - $42x2=$84
Differential, complete. - $245
3.55 Ring gear and pinion kit, complete. - $260 4.10 gears same price. Add $10 for 3.73 gears.

I have a total of $850 on sale. Adding about 15% (averaged-ish) to that off sale is $978, a rough estimate good enough. For a rebuild 'kit' that you still have to install in the housing after disassembling it. You could salvage the ABS rings from the old axles, and therefore save $100ish. The rest I'm assuming is trashed and you'll need.

By the way, a couple of videos to get you the idea of what's involved:

Or, you could just go to somewhere like, oh, O'Reilly, and pick one up for $1200. Just throw the old one out, put the new one in, and take the old one for your core deposit back. Done. Simple and easy.

Or... Go to a bone yard/pick a part and wrestle one out of a wrecked Mustang GT yourself... An entire axle isn't hard, just bulky. Raise car, support axle, 6 bolts for the driveshaft (support driveshaft), take off wheels and brakes, hanging brake calipers outta the way, remove lower shock bolts, lower axle to remove springs, reraise axle, remove panhard bar bolt (or the bar, probably better), remove upper control arm bolt, remove lower control arm bolts, axle is out. Reverse for in.

Do this at a bone yard and you can drag the axle home. And hope it's good. You can remove the cover in the yard to inspect it, there's videos on what to look for... or just take a chance and go with it (after exchanging the gear oil of course!) Be sure to look at the tag on the axle to ensure you have the same gears. Probably 3.55s, but there were options, I believe...

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I did all that to say... where they gettin' the $2500? Magic, looks like. The $500 to put it all together though that seems a bit reasonable, really, though whether that's just remove and install a whole axle or rebuild the one you got is the real question here... And you can see if they did a whole axle and just bought it somewhere, that's over doubling in price. Dude. I mean, ok, sure, they need to make money, but wow...

...but I don't run a business that specializes in rear ends like they do, so what do I know. It's a specialty shop for this thing. That's a premium. And then on top of it all, they're probably not putting in just any ol' parts.. And on top of THAT... they're going to warranty it for quite the while, yes? I mean, O'Reilly's is 3 years so...

Just food for thought processes. Then again, this is comin' from a smart-(insert alternate word for a nice donkey) idiot what recently did his own clutch and wouldn't hesitate to fix that booger m'own'self, if possible. And honestly, I'd probably hit the O'Reilly option and just get one ready to swap in. Even though I'd be kind of intrigued by the idea of actually fully rebuilding an axle end to end... the pricing doesn't work, and I'm not building a monster car, just a stocker, so... yeah. Besides, lots of even more weird tools I really can't justify getting... still... kinda wanna...

I'd of course have a look at the guts of the thing to determine how bad things are. If it was rebuildable, I'd probably tackle it. In your case, though, if an axle shaft snapped like it sounds maybe happened and somehow did it so stuff rattled around in the diff... yeah. O'Reilly or such complete unit swap out, I'm thinkin'. Stock car, so it should be fine.

I know, folks, how dare I suggest any ol' aftermarket anything would be worth a dang.... well, my O'Reilly alternator's doin' pretty go, the battery I bought from 'em is doin' fine, the BWD TPS sensor's workin' just fine... them Wagner brake pads are pretty sweet... so.. yeah... I'd be ok with it, I think.

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In closing, I don't know if I helped. I just have questions, so I laid it out for you as to why. I had fun typin' it up, I know I'm wrong somewhere and someone will be quick to slap me around for it. Still, info's info, I'd wager...

Best course of action? I'd be taking it to other shops, except the tow bills for second and third opinions. Maybe just ask other shops for a complete swap price, or rebuild price.

 

You Go Mr Houtex

 

Houtex you go man.. You rock... OP you can get a really nice new rear for the same or less. Something is wrong with your repair shop.

 

Aw, shucks, people. Just spewin' thoughts is all...