I assume this is a manual transmission?  There has been a history of
defective (improperly hardened) pinion bearings over the years, and I'm not
convinced it's been completely fixed.  Had one fail under warranty on my '84
years ago, and I know Daryl at AA Transaxle is still careful choosing his
bearing sources and likely has a stock pile of good ones.

If it makes a growling or howling noise that changes with speed and not gear
shifts, it's the pinion bearing, and with only 45k miles it should not
require a full rebuild to fix if it shifts properly.  Go back to the source
or send it to Daryl or German Transaxle.

Good luck!

Stuart
'85 Westy

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Timmy Evens
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 7:37 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: 45k out of a tranny?

lets just say you bought a rebuilt tranny from a reputable source. that
tranny lasted only 45k with proper oil changes before a bearing failure. it
was out of warranty by two years. seems a bit premature. would it be weird
to hope for a deal on a replacement?

tim