I live in Northeast Wyoming and I am trying to ship an automatic transmission from my 4Runner to a guy in the CA bay area. The local freight truck company wants more than the tranny is worth to ship it.

Anybody have any advise on ways to ship stuff that keep the cost under control?

 

Plan a family vacation to Ca. and take it along
Seriously, it is a problem. I have seen so many parts I wanted go for pennies on Ebay, but the shipping virtually tripled the price so I had to pass on bidding.
Good Luck

 

Go with what Reldnew has for advice as your sure to get some enjoyment out of it, do some wheeling, make some new friends, etc., etc.
Or you could rent a UHaul or some such and drive it over that way which would save wear and tear on your ride, but you'd still be paying for the gas unless you and the other guy worked out something on that, which sounds reasonable.
The only other thing that I can think of is heading down to your local trucking company and see if one of the truckers heading that way would be willing to pack it along with him, for a small fee, and then have the guy on the other end meet up with him/her and pick it up.
Just scratching my head here to try to come up with some alternatives to the BS we've all had to go through to get parts to or from here or there.

p.s. You could also "Go Greyhound" and leave the driving to them.

 

http://www.forwardair.com/ is one option, you need to take it to the nearest depot and the recipient has to pick up likewise. Cost is 30-40 cents/lb.