Transmission

[sandslady2]

Hello,

Could somebody tell me what a good price would be to put a new transmission in a 1983 Toyota gas engine 4WD. I just don't want to get ripped off. Thanks!!

[Trons]

I jst replaced the tranny in my '84. I spent $900 on a rebuilt transmission and did the work myself. I've been quoted about $250 for a '83 junkyard tranny and a little over a year ago I paid $350 for a '84 transmission (they are quite different).

As far as the labor, a local shop quoted me $350 (If I remember correctly) to replace the transmission, but since it's fairly straight forward, I decided to do it myself.

If you have any mechanical ability and a decent garage, you should be able to do it yourself (if you have a friend that can help you, that's even better, I didn't). The hardest part is getting the transmission up to where it needs to go and in place. I built a "transmission" jack by taking about a 12" square piece of steel and welding a few railings on it so I could set the transmission on it and strap it down. I drilled a hold near the center and another hole in my floor jack and bolted them toegether so there was some rocking play to be able to get it lined up properly.

I jst pushed the transmission under the truck, got the jack lined up, wrestled the tranny up on the jack and layed down next to it. I used my leg to work the jack and my arms to move it where I needed to. Once I got it in place it was a matter of bolting it all back together. It came out the the same it went in...

If I can do it, anybody can. I'm not a particularly good mechanic (but I'm learning). It took me almost all day to get it done, but it was warm when I did it and required more then a few beer breaks to analyze the situation and figure out how I was going to proceed. If I had to do it over again, I could probably do it in about 4 hours. A transmission shop with all the tools should be able to do it faster then that.

Sorry this was long winded, but I hope it helped.

Trons