I have a friend who put a remanufactured transmission in his 300SD a couple of years ago. He shopped around and got it from the MB dealer for about $1400. He had a local indy put it in for $700. According to him it was as smooth as new. It also came with a 4 year 48 month warranty. I do not know if the price is still the same but you may want to check it out.

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Tom Hughes
St. Louis
84 300SD
92 300D
86 300SDL