It depends on what the shop means by repack/reseal wheel bearings.
For the common definition (remove bearings,? clean and re-grease, reinstall), the estimates are WAY too high.
If their definition includes replacing the brakes (new rotors/drums, new pads/shoes) and entirely new bearings, bearing races, and seals, then maybe their
estimates are more reasonable.
if you are at all handy and have common automotive hand tools, this is the sort of job you can do yourself.
The valve adjustement estimate seems more reasonable. There's a lot of stuff that has to be removed to get at the valve covers, so that takes time.
The estimates for other work are common practice. The don't know the history of the vehicle, so some suggested work is based upon
recommended maintenance intervals or "this is about the age/mileage these parts fail"
Other reasons for the high estimate for the bearings (and other work) could include:
1) They are estimating the "worst case scenario" where the bearings have failed and spewed grease all over the brakes, requiring all the
work I described above. The actual bill if it's a simple remove-regrease-reinstall? may be lower.
2) They actually don't want to work on your Toyhome, so they're trying to scare you off (or make bank if they have to work on it)
3) They've taken a financial hit elsewhere in the business and are trying to cover the losses by raising prices on other customers.
This is a common retail practice. For example, your local supermarket doesn't sell $6 frozen pizzas at two for $5 because their
costs went down. Someone somewhere is paying a higher price for something to make up the difference.
If you cannot find someone to do the wheel bearing repack at a more reasonable cost, I suggest neglecting it. Repacking bearings
is good maintenance practice, but it is NOT absolutely essential. The failure mode is the bearing grease gets old/dirty/sticky,
which causes the bearings to start wearing away. As the bearings wear, they will make more and more noise giving you
PLENTY of warning that they are going bad. If that happens and you need to replace a worn bearing, it will cost you about
what you were quoted to "repack" them.? Unless you ignore them while they are howling like mad, this is not something that's
going to strand you somewhere.
Good luck,
Buzz L.
Phoenix, AZ
Former '86 Dolphin, '89 HiLux, and '96 Tacoma owner
rz