When I am in neutral, 1, 2, 3, and 5th gear my tranny is making a grinding sound like there is something laying down on the bottom getting nicked by the drive shaft. I took it into a shop and they think it is the input/output bearings because 4th gear works smooth as always. They quoted me 850 and 3 days of labor, the dealership quoted me 1000 just for the tear out to see whats wrong. How hard is it to do a tranny rebuild, and would it be easier/cheaper to just find a tranny at a junkyard and pull mine and replace it? It is a manual if it matters. I've never done any large engine work and am not familiar at all with transmissions, but do have a repair manual Would I be retarded to attempt a rebuild (or possibly just a swap) by myself?

 

Why not just find a used tranny and swap it in? A decent w-56 should only run about $200-300. It's a pretty easy swap.

 

In a prior message you said you were from Spokane. Here is a place near you. http://www.tbtrans.com/manual_transmission.htm Found it when I was searching around for my transmission.

In my younger days when I had time and no money I rebuilt 3 transmissions. Lots of parts to put back correctly. Now I am old and have no time. Took me over a year but I found Manjit who rebuilt my W55 for $300 in labor and $220 for the rebuild kit. This is Manjit's speciality. He rebuilds riding lawn mower transmissions to 18 wheelers. Manjit was a very lucky find. A mechanic from the old school that fixes things.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f115...ission-106436/

 

Just pick up a used trans. I got a solid W56 and transfer case for $250, and I've seen them for cheaper. And if you pick up a trans with another case, you're half way to a doubler if you wanted to go that route later (assuming your case is good). I'm waiting till my next vacation to swap mine in, I'm putting a new clutch and clutch master cylinder in at the same time, since I'll have it apart already.