Called two Honda Service Centers, and got vastly different quotes:
1. $200
I questioned this as from the picture I explained what had to be removed and the service mgr said they haven’t done one before but bring it in for a quote
2. 3-5 hours
He said in 7 years on his watch, hes only seen this happen 2-3 times. Happens in the same place as mine. He also said the same thing IGO said about dropping the engine to replace the slave. I said thanks, ill do that part. He was just quoting their labor manual, that had nothing for clutch pipe replacement.
So obviously im going to flat bed my bike to #2. 3-5 hours sounds right to me from a shop perspective.
I may check with my local bike shop guy and see if he feels comfortable doing this. He actually does work for me for free (i force money in his hand anyways)... its a brotherhood relationship thing. If hes not comfortable doing this (he’s primarily HD guy, but does have the books on Hondas and does GW for buddies), then ill go to Honda.
Buddy says hed loved to do it for me if i can wait 2-3 weeks due to his workload. Cant wait that long, so it’s Honda #2
That wouldn't be the same HD guy who bled, or tried to bleed your brakes, without following the correct procedure? I'd think you would be safer getting ripped off from the dealership, at least it would just be wasted money, instead of incorrect work (not saying the dealership would even do it correctly
)
The first quote was the "bait and switch" method, tell the customer something cheap just to get him in the door, then explain it will cost three times as much when he's there.
They are banking on the fact, you won't be able to pull the vehicle back out due to having to tow it there to begin with, and know you'll be stuck there and just have to deal with it.
The second quote is still padding the deal quite a bit and giving them alot of room to Explain to you after they have it apart, that they will need to do alot more than they thought, and you'll have to deal with it at that point etc. Even on a PD motor, and having to remove the crash bars, lights, siren, etc., you can still pull the tank, and left side cover off in about an hour going slow and taking your time. Replacing the slave cylinder takes about a half hour to R/R, (without dropping the engine) with the exception of scraping off the gasket, which can take several hours when done correctly, however, dealerships will normally just put a new gasket in and not bother cleaning off the old gasket.
Removing the old line is two banjo bolts, and a couple of P clamps that hold it where it is routed. We'll be very generous and say it can be R/R in an hour etc.
I would think an honest mechanic could do the Job in three hours or less.