Bay area welders am I crazy?
- Thread starter G_Raw
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RotaryDreamz
Member
What part of the bay area are you looking around? I got my sliders and panhard bar correction kit bracket welded on for a little over $300 last year. I did help him by prepping the areas the day before. The day of, I set the sliders in place, removed my panhard bar and put the bracket in place so all he had to do was just weld. It was his 1st time welding sliders and a unique bracket on an offroad vehicle. His welds dont look appealing, but they held up fine so far after a few trips.
G_Raw
New member
Eastbay...I'm in Oakland so Alameda and Walnut Creek.
At 500 to 600 to weld when the sliders cost that or less and more work to make the sliders then six welds seems excessive.
LandCruiser
New member
Labor here is anywhere from 150-200/hr.
Can't be the first time you've noticed this.
I think the Ballnut Creek Toyota dealer charges 180/hr for labor... those are Porsche figures everywhere else in the country.
G_Raw
New member
Yea. It just seems crazy to pay more than the sliders themselves cost is all.
Jetboy
New member
FWIW - that seems pretty high to me. I would expect a professional welder in a fabrication shop to weld on a set of sliders in around 1-2 hours from drive in to drive out - that is assuming the sliders are already fabricated and only need to be welded to the frame without any additional fitting required. That would include disconnecting the battery, removing paint, rust, etc from the frame rails, setting up a mechanism to hold in place and adjust to align properly, and welding on, then shooting with a self etching primer over the weld areas.
You would then be on your own for painting the frame rails over the primer.
The problem you're likely seeing is that fabrication shops in most cases don't really know much about welding on sliders (if they're not offroad shops), so they're going to quote you high and then see how it goes. From experience - what a lot of customers think is a ready-to-weld project is nothing close and requires a bunch of reworking to get it done right. Ideally good weld on sliders really are ready to go. I'd rather quote you high and give you a lower bill than quote it low and have an unhappy customer. As a comparison on price I think my dad (now retired but still has a 2500 sf hobby shop and does a few side jobs) usually charges $75/hr and I'd guess he'd have you on your way in less than two hours if he were willing to do it. So $150 out the door. In Bozeman, MT. Most likely he'd say no to welding to a vehicle frame (that's a no-no for commercial vehicles. I think there used to be federal laws that prohibited it. So most non-offroad welding shops generally won't want to touch it).
Costs are probably a lot higher in the Bay Area for everything from shop space to labor. $600 still seems pretty high.
You would then be on your own for painting the frame rails over the primer.
The problem you're likely seeing is that fabrication shops in most cases don't really know much about welding on sliders (if they're not offroad shops), so they're going to quote you high and then see how it goes. From experience - what a lot of customers think is a ready-to-weld project is nothing close and requires a bunch of reworking to get it done right. Ideally good weld on sliders really are ready to go. I'd rather quote you high and give you a lower bill than quote it low and have an unhappy customer. As a comparison on price I think my dad (now retired but still has a 2500 sf hobby shop and does a few side jobs) usually charges $75/hr and I'd guess he'd have you on your way in less than two hours if he were willing to do it. So $150 out the door. In Bozeman, MT. Most likely he'd say no to welding to a vehicle frame (that's a no-no for commercial vehicles. I think there used to be federal laws that prohibited it. So most non-offroad welding shops generally won't want to touch it).
Costs are probably a lot higher in the Bay Area for everything from shop space to labor. $600 still seems pretty high.
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shadow247
New member
Superior 4Wheel Drive
Check out this guy. He came up in a search for San Fransisco Off-Road shops on Tacoma World.
