You got to be shitting us. What shop only charges $200 to replace a auto trans? This is a long job even for an experienced mechanic. Their hourly rate has got to be one of the lowest in the country.

Does the $200 price for tranny removal involve the use of a sawzall?

That is crazy unheard of cheap....

That what my friend always wanted to R and R a trans.


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Dang. I paid 700 to swap mine in.

I want to hear and see more of these BMW seats...

That sucks, bud. Since everyone else is chiming in with their $0.02 about transmission replacement cost, I'll just add that I paid $450 for labor when I had my transmission swapped out. I thought this was pretty fair, especially since they included opening up the original transmission to diagnose my problem in that price.

I would look into the warranty on that "Toyota remanufactured" unit. From what I understand, Toyota generally only offers a one year warranty on reman-ed transmissions.

I dealt with this process back in January. I opted for a Jasper unit, which does indeed have a three year, 100,000 mile nationwide warranty. So far it's been a good unit, but I'm only 4,000 miles in. Time will tell. Get the best warranty you can.

You could also swap in a manual tranny, no more worries. It been done a fair amount and the parts aren't much more than just a replacement auto. Could boost resale value and these rigs look way cooler with a shifter than a selector. I have a bias though, 2 manual runners. Otherwise put another auto into that girl and drive it till the wheels come off. Safe travels

Sounds like this is your DD? If you can swing fixing, keeping, and getting a Honda DD or something then I would keep it. Use the Runner for your weekend fun. Or in my case, trips to Home Depot. Hehe

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I've got an auto trans & I'm terrified of the day that my trans goes,& this is my 2nd vehicle. I don't understand why these trans rebuilt are so damn high. I know autos are generally more expensive to repair than manuals, but $3500 seems excessive. 1 of my best friends parents own their own transmission shop. I'd take it to at least 2 others before I just let them work on my truck. That's not a knock on them, it's just that sometimes a different set of eyes may know of a more affordable option. If $3500 is at stake, I'd certainly look at more than 1 option.

My DD for work is a 2002 Saturn SL1. 44mpg. I feel like I'm driving a luxury vehicle when I drive the 4Runner or 04 Grand Cherokee. But my little satty is cheep and easy to work on. Those 1.9 engines last a long time if one checks the oil.


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You can pick up a used Nissan Leaf for $10-15 K for a DD. Practically zero maintenance and fuel costs ($1 a day to charge it) except for tires. Only thing is the batteries are expensive to replace when that time comes. I've had mine for 5 years and spent zero on maintenance but I needed new tires this year. My batteries are going down and at some point I'll have to decide to get new ones for $5000 I think it is.

A guy here at work bought a 8000 dollar Electric Smart car. My work has charge ports in the parking lot for them. But my drive is 62 miles a day. And I paid less than 2000 for my Saturn.


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Funny you suggest this. I'm buying a Leaf as soon as I land in Hawaii for my wife.

Haven't had a chance to jump on here and give an update. Lots has happened in the last two months.

I opted to fix the 3rd Gen with a genuine Toyota reman that comes with a 3 year / 100k warranty and did some other work. Put in the Hayden 678 tranny cooler(? pretty sure that's the number, whatever the TRD one is). I was going to sell it afterwards but my brother decided to move to Hawaii with us so I'm going to give him back this 4runner. It's one of the best cars to own out there. He's the one that gave me it and I basically fixed it up over the last 20 months. Now he will have it back way better than he gave it to me. Lucky dude, hah.

During that time, I came to really love having a 4runner so I pulled the trigger and bought a 2017 TRD Off Road today. Took a lot of negotiating over the last three weeks but I got them down below invoice and some freebies. Originally was aiming for the Magnetic Gray but got a Classic Silver one. I will be picking it up Monday.

Can't get into my hosting accounts so I uploaded a shot here. I was planning to write it up but I'm swamped until the end of the year.

Basically, I was looking for potential donors that would fit. I had a 740IL and loved the seats in that but they're too wide. I've drove 3-series before and didn't mind the seats in them. I found out that there are a bunch of people in the mud forums (i think it was ih8mud or something) that have land cruisers that put them in. Found a dude about an hour away that had several sets for sale and he gave me a pair that were power/lumbar/heated for $100. They needed leather restoration but all the wiring was intact and once I hooked up power to them, they worked. I had only sat in them at his place to make sure they weren't too far gone. They're firmer, but not firm enough to make me hurt on long drives. It significantly improved my comfort from 30 minutes to at least 2 hours before I start noticing anything.

EDIT: I figured out the wiring for the heating element using the stock e46 heating switches. I probably coudl have retrofit the toyota ones but these have 3 power settings and the 4runner ones didn't so it'd be on full blast all the time. They fit in the stock switch area but are too narrow to fill it.

If you're taller than 6' 2", this isn't for you unless you basically lay back. It raises the seat but I can't say how much. Maybe an inch, inch and a half. I'm 5' 8" so I would be raising my seat position this high anyways. My brother's 6' 2" and fits still. This was his car and he said he'd still keep the seats.

I took the old seats out, cut the feet off the rails. I basically took the seats apart first, then was left with only the bottom frame. With the bottom frame out, I started drilling 3 holes on each foot. You have to because it's blind welded. You can see where the centers are if you look closely. There is a mark about 1/8" or so at each point. I drilled with 1/8, 1/4", 3/8" bits and used a chisel to pop the feet off once I did the 3 holes. You'll understand once you start. I was quoted $800 to cut the feet off and make/weld mounts. I did it myself in a day and a half for $40 in bits and bolts, cutting oil and $30 in steel bars I had custom cut to make the adapters. Look up "poor man's racing brackets" to get an idea of what I did. They're solid and definitely in there well. The width of these 3-series seats fit perfectly. They came out of a 4-door e46 sedan, originally gray, now black. I restored some 3rd gen backseat leathers to black also. I had the sr5 cloths previously.

The leatherique I used looked awesome at first but it has definitely not held up. I wouldn't do it again. I'd have opted to get wet okoles from the start on these 3-series seats.

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