Hello,

After a little over 170K on the ticker the tranny in my 90 Van decided to
die. Had it dropped and gutted and discovered that the bearing supporting
the output shaft by the pinion gear had been wobbling around a bit.
Wobbling so much that it was dropping little bits of the surrounding
metal into the oil, whihc in turn chewed up the pinion gear!. The output
shaft snapped at the point of wobbling and that was what crippled me that
afternoon! Turns out that this wobbling was messing with the main
transmission seal by the throw out bearing and my oil leak was not from
the crankcase but from the tranny. I knew the oil had a non engine oil
like smell to it. Also the leak stopped farily quickly after cooldown,
also pointing to the thicker gear oil.

Anyways! Now I am looking for a new transmission or a rebuilt one, or
maybe evena used one?! I live in the Orange County in Southern
California. Can anyone point me to some places around here that are well
reputed? I know a couple, but I know the list knowssome too.

Thanks!

Joe