The Rear End Shop

I had a loud whirring noise coming from my rear diff the Friday before a road trip across 3 states. I explained my issue and my time crunch. The owner and staff moved mountains to replace a bearing in my rear diff in a few hours. The noise is gone and im all ready for my trip. The rear end was a life saver. I had been planning this road trip with friends for over a year.

Barry and Sam rock. They have done several hot rods for me, most recently my 1960 T-​Bird. Great, prompt service and reasonable pricing. Thanks guys!

I first came here with a work truck that needed a new pinion seal. Barry was a pleasure to work with. He not only took care of the seal in an expeditious manor but his price was better than not only the Ford dealership, but three other shops I contacted prior.
Today I came in with my personal car in an effort to have the gears changed out. I wanted to get rid of the factory installed 4.11’s that were overly taxing my motor and replace them with a quality set of Ford 3.50’s Barry had in stock.
I dropped off my car before work and returned at the end of the day. The car was sitting ready to go. The difference was definitely noticeable. My car drove much smoother. And again, the job was completed in an expeditious manor. The price was fair and I drove away happy. I would definitely patronize this place in the future.

I had my rear end rebuilt supposedly all new internals. When I drove away, I was getting noise at 45mph. I took it back, they opened it up and said it must be my transmission without driving it or doing a –hold on wait for it– …mechanical test. I went to two different transmission shops who determined that my transmission was perfectly fine and said I have a bad part in my rear end but I just had it fixed for over a thousand dollars as opposed to buying a used one for $ 450 and having it put on. I had the owner of the transmission shop call the rear end and it seemed to turn into an argument. My warranty from the Rear End was a joke because something wasn’t fixed from the initial repair and my truck whirred around and spat oil out from the gasket right after driving it out of their shop. They only looked at it once after and cleaned up the oil coming out. but it definitely makes noise from the differential — not the transmission.
I had a fair share of people telling me between then and now that I need a new rear end. The owner was on site when I had them reinspect it. The owner showed me a brand new single metal piece and said that’s what is inside the differential, and online it shows several parts. I’ve never pulled a trailer, my truck is a simple short commute daily driver. it makes absolutely no sense at all. I came here based on Unilocal reviews and I’m surprised.
I sold the truck a while ago for half of blue book value because it needed this major repair done again badly. After bumping heads with the guys at Rear End I didn’t want to spend another thousand bucks somewhere else when I was told up front that the repair has a warranty. I guess I was only covered to have them clean the mess of oil on the outside of the differential which is something I could have done since I’ve been doing it a lot whenever adding oil.
It really sucks to spend over a grand and not see results that last a significant fraction of what it should have given me. Something wasn’t right about this repair because I couldn’t have put more than 15k miles my F150 maybe just 10k miles. Yes, I had oil added frequently as a result of their wonderful gasket that doesn’t retain oil in the well. After going back they didn’t seem to have changed it because it was still leaking from the pan. If it wasn’t the leaking that caused this to go bad quickly, I should have been advised to get a replacement rear end or whatever… these guys are supposed to be the professionals, right? They insisted on getting new rear axles and whatever else… I said yes because they said it would be good preventative maintenance for the future. look, it didn’t do anything at all!

I am not one to write nasty Unilocal reviews, but I have to put the word out, this dude does not stand behind his work. I brought him a third member from a ford 9″, my limited slip had quit awhile back and I finally got around to doing something about it. Figured that while I was at it, I might as well replace the axle bearings and seals. They weren’t noisy or leaking, but they were 13 years old. He turned everything around quickly, and for a reasonable price. A couple weeks later, I noticed that one of the axle seals was leaking heavily. No big deal, sometimes new parts are bad. I pulled the axle, and drove on down to Livermore, only to be told that «I didn’t make that seal, I won’t stand behind it.» Umm, pretty sure you’re not manufacturing any of the parts you are selling, dude. He said that he would have to cut the bearing off that he just installed, so a new bearing would cost me 60 bucks, and his labor to press it all together would be another 40. The problem is, I already bought a new bearing, from him, and I already paid him to put it together. The parts he sold me were bad, so now he expects me to buy more parts, and pay him more money, all with no guarantee that it wouldn’t just leak again when I put it back in the car. I asked him, «so this is a hundred dollar gamble?» He said yes, that’s exactly what it is. Of course, he didn’t tell me this before he replaced my good parts that were on the axles before. If I knew that i was getting parts that *might* work, and that he was unwilling to stand behind the parts he was selling, I WOULDN’T HAVE CHANGED THE AXLE BEARINGS AND SEALS TO BEGIN WITH. Now I’m out the hundred bucks I already paid him, plus the hundred bucks it’s going to take to get someone else to do it, plus the brake pads that his leaky seal ruined for me. Suddenly, his reasonable price isn’t so reasonable. And I have to wonder, seeing as how this guy’s defense of not standing behind the parts that he’s selling, that he can’t be responsible for something he didn’t manufacture himself, could apply to literally anything that he is selling, if this guy is willing to dick me around over a hundred bucks, what is he going to do when a thousand dollar repair goes sour? Buyer beware.

My classic car was leaking rear end fluid from one of the brake drums so I knew it was time to replace my rear bearings and seals on my axles. So one day I decided to remove them and take them down to the Rear End Shop to have the old bearings/​seals removed and my new ones pressed on. I did not have an appointment but Barry told me to bring them down even tough they were busy with other customers. He said they would get it done for me before the end of the day. I dropped them off and returned before closing and sure enough they were done. Barry was very knowledgeable and provided some tips on reinstalling the axles to prevent any future issues. I reinstalled them that same day without any problems. I had heard of all of the high ratings at the Rear End Shop and they did not disappoint. This place it first rate. I would highly recommend this place to anyone.

Had a 2007 Dodge Nitro rear differential repaired [bearing kit installed] Barry was very candid & honest. He’s an expert no-​doubt. The price was more than fair. He saved me a fortune compared to dealer cost. I’d drive the length of the state for their services.

I was referred to The Rear End Shop because I was going to be do a lot of towing with my 2005 Silverado 4X4.
It’s good feeling when you go to a shop, or anywhere for these days when they actually do what they say and by the time that they say.
The Rear End Shop does excellent work and has awesome customer service, I would recommend them to anyone that needs their rear end worked on… their front gears too!

Barry is the man got me in last minute great price don’t go anywhere else it’s not worth it did a trutrac on my crown vic with 355s and on my truck with 410 3 year warranty best place for rear end work thanks barry.

Man this is the best shop in Northern California hands down!!! These guys know their stuff and if it ain’t right they will fix it no charge! They even worked with me on the price! They did a whole rear end rebuild on my 5.0 and I’m one happy customer!!! Them guys at the rear end shop are good people! All these comments you read on here are true!!! Top notch, above the rest!

My son destroyed his Chevy Silverado Truck’s rear end while «mudding» after the last rain. The Rear End Shop was recommended to us by our mechanic. Dan the owner was incredible. He explained to my son what happened and why, showed him the damaged parts and then the new ones that were installed. Dan also gave some pointers to prevent this from taking place again. Dan was not only helpful, he went over and above any place I have ever experienced with great customer service. His place is clean and you feel when you walk in that they are there to assist you. He also stuck to his estimate even when I knew that the cost of repair was higher then he had first anticipated.
I would recommend The Rear End Shop to anyone who needs this kind of repair.

After several trips to the strip in my 12 Ford GT500 my factory Trak-​Lok rear end started to give out. With my power upgrades it was clear I needed to move up to something with better traction so I settled on a Tru-​Trac rear and some 3.73 gears. I’m an avid DIY’er so thought about doing them myself, but gears are something you really need to get right and either you have the experience or you don’t, so this is one item I decided I needed a pro for. I looked at a shop in San Jose that was a bit cheaper, but after talking with them didn’t feel that they were a good fit. Some further searching and I found Barry at The Rear End Shop.
He didn’t mind using the parts I supplied (though he is well stocked) and was very accommodating. Since I was coming way out of my way he informed me that there was a Hertz rental car agency right down the street (he’s got a good rate with them too). This was great since I needed to get back to work.
He told me the car would be ready ~4pm and he delivered as promised. He instructed me on proper break-​in of the gears and I was on my way. Car handles much more «sure-​footedly» now and is a pleasure to drive. Can’t wait to get it back out to the track.
All in all, I would highly recommend Barry and the Rear End Shop. He’s been doing this for many many years (I want to say 27?), is a professional, and a car guy’s car guy. Another thing I noted was that the shop was clean and well-​organized (as shops go). An asset to the Bay Area in my opinion.

I was surprised!
My Mechanic recommended them to me and I expected the worse with rear end work, some specially shops like transmission guys seem to love to take advantage of your ignorance as even a lot of us who have some idea of how a automobile runs have little idea when it comes to transmissions or in this case, Rear ends.
I found a bare bones shop full of nice guys who knew the problem very quickly, worked with me on each step,. made the vendor pay for their mistakes (rather then me) and came very close to the price they quoted me initially on the phone.
One of the best experiences I’ve ever had with a shop and I walked out amazed!

This shop was recommended by a friend at a BMW performance tuner. They send all their rear end work to Barry.
Just recently had my 95 Mustang Cobra worked on. New 3:73 gears, Torsen diff and Moser axles. Barry is a great person to work with. Very knowledgeable and friendly. His prices are extremely fair.
I highly recommend this shop.

I took my truck to The Rear End Shop for a new ring and pinion because they were cheaper than everyone else and have good reviews on Unilocal.It’s rare to find a Mechanic that really goes above and beyond but Barry is one of the few. Here is the story:
Barry replaced my gears about a year and a half ago with OEM parts for a fraction of the price the dealer wanted. I after I got the truck back I noticed some gear noise so I brought the truck back and Barry made some adjustments at no charge. The second time I got the truck back the noise was better but still present so I brought the truck back again. Barry took the new gears out and returned them to the dealer (turns out that the new gears were bad) and put a whole new set in at no charge. A few weeks later I noticed that my locker was engaging sometimes when turning so I brought my truck back and asked Barry to add an extra bottle of friction modifier. Barry did this and checked the gears again at no charge.
Fast forward a year and a half (and 40,000 miles) to this week. I had a howling noise coming from the rear end of my truck. I brought it in to Barry to have it checked out. Turns out that the outer pinion bearing was going bad. Barry replaced the bearing, changed the gear oil, and remembered to add an extra bottle of friction modifier. I went in yesterday to pick the truck up and when I asked Barry how much I owed him for the work (expecting the bill to be $ 500 or so) he said that I didn’t owe him anything.
Barry is a mechanic that not only has integrity but will go above and beyond to make sure his work is perfect and that you are satisfied. This is why I drive from San Francisco to Livermore to have Barry work on my truck.

This place is awesome from a female point of view. Not only does this place have posi rearends but they have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. They have parts for all for my personal favorite sort of cars of old school classics, and, the newer model cars and trucks. This place is efficient and the owner is a man of integrety.
This place has moved from First street in livermore to 5715 S. Front Road. It runs along 580 freeway.
Awesome place, when you have the need to speed go here.

Barry is the best! Highly recommend.
I was taken for a ride by another local shop. And not only was Barry able to fix my Ford Mustang quickly and easily (and cheaper than estimated), but he also explained and showed me everything mechanically happening with my car. He even helped me out so that I wasn’t stranded. A month later and my car is still just as perfect as it was leaving his shop. You just don’t find many great mechanics and great people like this anymore.
The Rear End Shops-​Livermore is the only place to go.

I’m usually the one doing the work on my car, but when I was stumped with a rear end issue, I looked all over for a place that had experience with GM rear ends. My chat over the phone with Barry made me feel extremely confident in his work, enough so that I drove all the way from SF to let him see what was up. In the end he relieved me of my issues and at a great price to boot!
I can’t recommend this shop enough — you go in with little knowledge and come out educated and confident.

Amazing customer service! Barry is friendly, knowledgeable, willing to work within a budget (every time), complies to my schedule, and always gives me rides when I’m stranded. This is the ONLY place I would ever take my vehicle to for any repairs. I have a Jeep and it is hard to find a mechanic who knows how to work on 4X4’s, especially Jeeps. Barry is a big Jeep guy and is very educated on any issues I have thrown at him. He takes the time to explain how things work, as well as why they broke. I love being able to understand the dynamics of how things work on my Jeep, so in the future I can keep a more educated eye on it incase I have problems again. Barry is the ONLY mechanic I have ever experienced, who has taken the time to pick up the phone and go to bat for me when I have been taken advantage of by bad shops and other mechanics. He believes in justice and that is hard to find that loyalty and trust in your mechanic. I have since been in Louisiana working in the film industry and have not been able to find half the mechanic Barry is out here in the South. To this day, I will call and ask his advice when ever I have had an estimate done on my vehicle because his opinion and expertise is that valuable. I would highly recommend «The Rear End Shop.» This is one of the biggest things I miss about living in the San Francisco Bay Area, my mechanic.

The Rear End Shop in Livermore did a fantastic job fixing my truck. The owner was friendly, honest, and very knowledgeable. He explained what was wrong with my truck and offered to show me the parts he would be working on.
The price was competitive and fair.
I would recommend The Rear End Shop to all my friends and family!