So my tranny has been slipping and clanks when down shifting. My mechanic texted me saying it is on its way out and he will talk to me tomorrow in more detail. I know the Disco 2 ZF trannies were supposed to be pretty reliable but I guess the previous owners neglected it. Would it be wise to buy a used transmission from eBay? Theres a ton with warranties and pretty low miles for less than $500. My mechanic charges $120 an hour. How long would it take to replace it? Another option would be to rebuild the transmission? Would that be any cheaper? Thanks

 

HP22/HP24 are very reliable transmissions, but our D2’s are not spring chickens anymore. A good used one should be fine as the only real killer to them = driveshaft failure or a blown cooler line.

 

I think I have heard 9 hours for Transfer case so similar maybe?

 

8-10 hours is about right for a transmission swap, if they are going by book time. That may go up if they have to fight anything or other things go wrong along the way(very likely)

 

Wow, flat-rate is mighty generous on that one, lol

 

Not when you're working in a shop and need to guarantee a repair.

Working at home, its fine to fudge things, cut corners, cheap out, etc. If it leaks later on, or if theres an issue, you shrug it off and deal with it. If you're selling a service and need to guarantee the repair, it takes a lot longer to do it right and stand behind it so the customer doesn't end up back in the shop 2 days later with a leak or other issue.

 

I know, I worked as a tech at a Ford and a GM dealer years ago, and later at an independent shop.
Between seeing alot of dirty business, and flat-rate, I decided that working on cars for a living was not for me.
Flat rate is fine when you beat the time, and I didn't mind eating it if I was too slow, but when the shop was slow, and not enough work to go around...no thanks.
I have not taken the trans out of my D2, but given 9 hrs, and a lift, sounds too doable. I'de have thought surely it would have given you pit crew time to swap one, lol.

 

Yeah, I would definitely get the used one with the guarantee. The 03/04 is the better of the two, so make sure you get that year range.

 

Does it come with the torque converter? I just bought a used 'low' miles tranny with converter for about 400$ and a mint CDL for less , including shipping, off ebay from this guy ky_scrap1

 

I just found one with a little less than 60,000 miles for $700 and it includes the torque convertor with a 60 day warranty.