My  1993 VW VANAGON CAMPER (The Green Lizard) pooped a while back. Actually it still runs....let's back track

About 6 months ago, I was driving it from work and heard a noise coming from the
Automatic transmission shift. I didn't pay much attention to it for a couple of days until the noise became a whistle. I could move (put pressure) on the AT shift and the noise would go away. If I actually shifted to lower gears or accelerated/disaccelerated, the singing would change pitch. Shifting to neutral would make it completely silent.

Well, I logically thought it would be the transmission, so I took it to a transmission shop and they said it was the read-end. They gave me an informal (verbal) estimate of ~$1200.00.  The next day, I drove it to a local VW mechanic who said it was the transaxle and would cost ~$2000.00 to be rebuilt (including labor). I didn't expect the $$$ to be that much and was confused with all the answers, so I drove it home (now the van was singing OPERA style) and has been parked there ever since. I did move it the other day though.

I want to revive it and have been looking for honest expert commnets/answers, and this list is the right place. I dont know if it is the transmission, the transaxle, or the rear-end, (or something else). I got a tip from Joel to call a shop in Cal, but I want be more educated about it before I do anything. I will "MAYBE" attempt to repair it myself, is this really hard stuff ?

Thanks,

Sergio deRada
VW VANAGON CAMPER 83 & 91
VW RABBIT 83