That sounds like a pretty good price to me too, James. There's at least 3 hours of labour in there, plus some time adjusting. The only parts should be some sealant for the case cover, a few copper washers for the hydraulic banjo fittings (unless you anneal the old ones and re-use them) and maybe a little bit of oil. I'd say he's doing the job at his cost to encourage you to start using them for service and parts. Smart business.
As far as difficulty goes, it wasn't bad if you're mechanically inclined. Getting it apart is pretty easy with someplace clean, warm and dry to work, which I have.
Special tools really aren't needed, about the only things I used that the average owner might not have were the dial verniers and feeler gauges for measuring the valve settings.
I really have to thank the folks that provided the information I used to set the valve. They know who they are, I'm not going to mention any names since I doubt they want to be deluged with requests for information. If they want to volunteer to post it or provide it privately to interested folks, I'll leave that up to them.
I have a few tweaks left to do to get it just right. When you shut the engine down the 3-point settles very slightly, maybe an inch or so, which it didn't do before.
If I increase the set screw gap slightly it should eliminate that and still keep the lift smooth. That's going to be trial and error, with a minor change being followed by a re-assembly and test run. I set the gap at 0.006", which is in the middle of the tolerance of 0.004"-0.008". I expect to be at the high end of the limit or even slightly beyond to eliminate the settling. I could live with it, but since I already have it apart I might as well see if I can reduce or eliminate it while I'm at it. I also want to check the feedback rod setting in case that has an impact on it, but I doubt that will change much.
I have to rig up some sort of frame to set the top case back in place easily. My back is pretty good, but it's awkward holding that much weight at arm's length over the transmission. I think a block and tackle I have might be just the thing.
Overall, I'd say I'm pretty happy with the results I got. My time doesn't cost me anything and I learned from the experience. Thanks to some friends here the information to do the job was available too.
It'll be interesting to see if anybody else here takes the plunge and tackles their's. I had a few misgivings about it at first, particularly while it was still under warranty. Once I was into it, it went better than I thought it might have. I did end up removing the wiring harness from the right fender to get it all the way over to the left side and completely out of the way. If you have a helper to hold it to one side while you sit the case cover in place you might not have to do that, it took me about 5 minutes to remove it.
Sean
