fwiw, there is a modest vw shop in my area, that had a GW trans shipped to
them a couple of years ago, , they installed it, it was bad right away.
Had to send it back.
Glad  'your'  bad one was apparent right then, and not a week or a month
later.
Do they buy core transmissions ?
Glad you're on the road successfully.
Scott

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Williams" <sbw@SBW.ORG>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 5:04 AM
Subject: Re: Should I replace my transmission?

>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.