tranny issues

I have a 94 with 97k miles. The tranny shuddereds when you are leaveing 1 gear, and as you are down shifting back into first gear. Was told that this is a common thing in these cars. Was told that it was the seal around 1 gear and that the ONLY way to fix it was to rebuild it. ($1600). Is this true.

not entirely. Your best bet is to change out your fluid and use Mopar ATF +4. What is really happening is known as torque converter shudder. That's when you reach around 45 MPH and your converter locks up, it shudders due to the friction modifiers in your fluid going bad. The best way to make sure everything is ok is to do a flush of the transmission and fill it up with ATF+4, you should see a noticeable difference then.

Thanks for the suggestion. however it doesn't shudder at 45 it shudders at 10mph. First repair shop thought that it was a seal at first gear. i am going to try that fluid.