$530 to remove a stripped bolt

this happened to me when i did my front diff fluid because i went to town on it with a torx bit haha. I used an easy out and a breaker bar. Id wager next time tapping it with brass and hammer and some penetrant would help break it loose with the proper hex bit.

Then you can use a lexus drain plug that has a regular 6 point head to replace the plug

 

"never heard of it" is a mechanic phrase.
Wheel bearings are preventative. Don't want to do them? OK.

Service is not free. Repair is not free.
In fact, checking into a homeless shelter is not free. Nor is food stamps.
Labor price is posted at the door. It requires consent.
Labor means time. The time has a dollar amount. That is their labor rate.

You also did not list details on the operation.

Maybe if you did the diff fluid on time, it would not be seized.

You have many options. The dealer is one of them.
Why would someone go to a dealer? If they had a sophisticated new car that needed a software update only the dealer can do.
This is not such a vehicle.

It costs money to pay other people to do things for you. Who would've thought.

 

Did you at least ask them to change out the drain plug to a nut?

Otherwise if you have them just replace it you’re most likely going to end up in the same spot later.

 

You can easily chisel it (get a chisel and hammer it counter clock wise) it will come out suprisingly easy

 

I’ve tried to hit things with a chisel but about ten minutes in I just break out the welder. Heat loosens it up as well as getting a new surface to rotate against.

 

Yeah, I can. “Unacceptable” depending on context. It’s unacceptably expensive if I’m determining where to take my truck next time. Once it’s already there, and I have to take the opportunity cost of leaving work to come back to pick up my truck and go elsewhere + the risk of not knowing if the next place is going to be just as shitty… then it’s “acceptable”, albeit outrageous. (For anyone just tuning in, I talked them down to $300 for the full job, not $530 for just the bolt). Hence why I authorized the service but vowed to never come back. At that point in time, it was better to bite the bullet and just get it all done—my time is valuable.

Two pages of posts and you’re the only person to actually answer my question. Thank you.

 

I didn’t know this. I’ll add that bit to my repertoire. Thank you.

 

when a place gives you a price like that they're telling you they don't want to do the job. You really don't want someone who feels like that working on your truck.

 

"I took my truck to the dealer to fix a problem I created and now I'm crying about the price and its still not fixed"

 

Where did the OP say the drain plug issue wasn’t fixed? In fact, it’s not even clear if the work has been done yet.

Edit: also, there’s no evidence in this thread that the OP created the problem. He couldn’t remove the plug. Is that his fault? Drain plugs seize up all the time.

 

Ya my front diff plug was stripped and it’s aluminum so I couldn’t weld it so I got a chisel made a little notch with a dremel for the chisel to sit in and hammered away (at an angle obviously where you’re having the chisel move the plug counter clock wise)

 

Good info, I was about to chime in and say the oem part is aluminum if I recall. Super light, with a correspondingly modest torque spec -- and not something you can just weld a nut onto as a hobbyist welder.

No prob in socal, but in the rust belt I could see it getting stuck and stripped. Or if someone tightened it like it was steel.

In any case, $300 isn't too bad to get this solved. Sure, maybe you could do better, but you could do worse as well, and at the end of the day you'll get fresh oil on the gears and a new non-stripped plug.

So... good work, cheers!

 

I use Teflon tape on my diff plugs, manual transmission plugs and transfer case plugs.
The trans and transfer case are aluminum so it's not really relevant there but I've never had a plug seize in a diff when I use it.

 

Okay- $300 for getting the bolt out and doing a diff service isn't "horrible"...

 

Most good hobbyist welders out on the market are inverter machines with ability to run an aluminum spool gun spray transfer, but invariably it’s a bit less common to find than a short circuit mig transformer welder overall.

 

Good point, I didn't mean to claim it's out of reach for hobbyists, just that it's a bit less trivial than it sounds -- and importantly: the plug is not steel, so weld (or chisel, or open the checkbook) accordingly!

 

Weld a nut on the drain plug and remove,easy !

 

I genuinely feel bad for you that feel compelled to mock random strangers online. Regardless of why it was stripped, you can’t tell me $530 isn’t obscene.

It barely took any torque before the inverted hex head started slipping. My guess is that previous owner had already started to strip it and I certainly didn’t make it any better.

Truck spent first 12 years of its life in MA. Relatively low miles and whatever coating they used seems to have spared the frame but there’s definitely corrosion on other parts of the truck. Guessing that’s why it was stuck.

 

Perhaps he meant, "Sometimes I take more."

 

The only thing I'll do sometimes is go to my dealerships competitor and tell them what they are charging and usually will dropped the price just to get my service.. I play the dealers against each other all the time.. if I don't feel comfortable with the competitor doing said work.. I'll take their quote to my dealership and they price match