Slinger service cost

[redavide]

Thanks for the responses.

First, I welcome recommendations of any smaller shops around the NYC tri-state area.

Second, I understand that removing the engine from the bike would add to the cost. But how much time should it take for an experienced mechanic with the best resources to do that? In my opinion, it shouldn't be very labor intensive and shouldn't add much to the bottom line . . . .

[schrader7032]

I guess it's to define experienced...with /2s. Just as a WAG, I'd say it could take at most a day, say 8 hours at a shop rate of $100 an hour...so maybe $800??

[Discogodfather]

My R69 is at Max BMW in Connecticut for a few things and I inquired about the price of slinger service.

They quoted me $4000 - $9600, depending on what they found once they opened her up. In other words, $4000 if everything else was fine and slinger just needed cleaning . . . .

Any thoughts on this estimate?

Thanks

Those numbers sound wacky but I have been quoted some whoppers by other big names like Barrington that I thought were typos before I realized they were serious. Fact is bigger name shops seem to quote extremely high, and it's part of their "air" of being experts. Labor is valued so differently from shop to shop anyway, and the price also depends on who is asking I have found.

It is a hell of a lot of labor though, and it's just not an easy job. The big shops know how to do things quickly and efficiently and they are there in the future to stand behind some work.

I'd haggle with them at the very least. Tell the service manager or shop head to give you a call when things are slow for them and quote them a price, it's worth talking about at least. Or find a smaller but reputable place to do it. I would not pay anyone more than $2500 for this, but that would assume the crank is straight.

[nutters1016]

Way to high.. simple motor easy to work on for any self respecting mechanic.

[mcsherry1328]

I have been following this thread on cleaning slingers and want to ad my thoughts as well. A few years ago I had two R69S engines that needed the slingers cleaned. As an average amateur home shop mechanic I was too intimidated to do this myself so I called around to several shops and people I felt were knowledgeable on this service. First, I was surprised to find out that several shops I asked to do this had never actually done this before. I never did got a quote from anyone. I bought the Ed Korn "many in one tool", a must to service the /2 engine. I also bought the cleaning slinger dvd that Ed Korn made, very basic but tells you what you need to know. Of course I have the Barrington manual which is another must have period. I did both of these engines myself and it was much easier than I could have imagined. The many in one tool worked brilliantly . I replaced all the seals, and inspected the internals as best I could. Knowing both these engines ran fine before I didn't anticipate big problems. I didn't change the main bearings as they seemed fine, also the crankshaft looked good. My thought on not changing the original bearings is that I don't really trust the quality of new parts. I know the old ones were built well. Both engines needed the slingers cleaned. I chose to clean the original slingers rather than buy new ones, same reason as I know they were good. Digging the sediment out of the slingers was easy with a small pick tool. As wonderful as the Barrington manual is, and it really is a most valuable source for service and restoration, I feel at times it gets way too involved with critical measurements & tolerances. As this is obviously very important when building an engine, I was just cleaning the slingers on an existing complete running engine. After completion and installation two years ago, both engines work perfect. As far as the quoted prices you received I feel this job should cost around $1200. USD. Also, I did replace the piston rings and had the cylinders honed. I had the heads serviced with new valves by a shop. All the best with your project and feel free to ask questions about this anytime. Michael

[sorbo1]

Hi
My 2 cents worth re slingers . I did a total rebuild on my 1961 R69s with 48,000 miles on the speedo in 2012 . Everything on the bike was checked and if damaged or worn out was replaced . I had the engine stripped down by a friend who rebuilds and restores BMWs as a paying hobby . I gave the crankshaft to a specialist to check the big ends and replace the slingers . Cost was $A500.00 . He replaced the slingers and fitted oversize rollers to the big ends .The bike has done 55,000 miles with out any problems . I didn't keep a record of how much I spent on the total restoration . If I did I probably wouldn't have done it.
I would suggest the cheapest way forward is to strip the engine down and give the crankshaft only to a specialist to do . I live in Australia .So unfortunately I can't help with anywhere to go .

[huntmiller]

I recently read probably here, someone sent their /2 motor to Benchmark Works and the complete engine rebuild with a crank service (which can be expensive) was $5,000. That makes MaxBMW seem expensive to me.