Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:04:41 -0800
Reply-To:     Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Subject:      Re: Should I replace my transmission?
In-Reply-To:  <F8FF498D3C3A4DA4A806D4C07CFEB6A3@daryl02>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I just drove about 800 miles from Los Osos, California, to Lehi,
Utah, enjoying the blessed quiet of a rebuilt transmission installed
by GoWesty.  But it was expensive.

With all due respect to the excellent suggestions and vendors on this
list, I decided to go ahead and have GoWesty do the work, primarily
because I already have a relationship with them, but also because I'm
full-timing in my van and traveling on a fairly tight schedule, and
they were able to do the job in less than one day.

I described the whine I heard here and you all responded very helpfully.

At 11:01 AM 11/6/2009, aatransaxle wrote:
>Sounds like a pinion bearing failing. In the short run, it usually
>is no big deal  ... If let go, it will eat up the ring/pinion ...

I don't have the full core report yet, but they did tell me the ring
and pinion was "bad."

>That in addition to the likely cracked 3/4 hub issue they all
>develop tells me its time to put your mind at ease and bite the bullit ...

I'm glad I did.  Thanks for the encouragement.

>Mine are $1095 exchange for the rebuild plus a $400 core deposit (
>in case the R&P is actually bad already.) Rougly $80 shipping each
>way ... A week or a tad less out typicaly this time of year.

GoWesty charged $1,400 plus $750 core charge.  That's a big
difference, and I'm not qualified to judge whether there's any reason
to pay more.  I had my reasons to use GoWesty, but I feel extremely
fortunate that there are so many great suppliers still supporting our vehicles!

Interestingly, GoWesty took a couple of extra hours to finish the
job, because the first rebuilt transmission they installed had a
"noisy fourth gear."  They were apologetic that the job wouldn't be
finished before lunch, but I was on the road by 2 pm.  They told me
they keep two rebuilt stock transmissions on the shelf, along with
several five-speeds, syncros, and with custom gearing.  It speaks
well of GoWesty that they had another transmission in stock, so there
was little delay.  But a little unsettling that one of their rebuilds
turned out to be bad out of the box.  What if someone had paid to
have that bad transmission crated and shipped?  That would have been
very disappointing.