The worn-out manual tranny that I installed in my wagon finally failed. After two years, seven months and 42,000 miles of retreving parts cars, pulling my pig-cart trailer and buzzing, rattling irritation it failed last night in Manor, TX when shifting to 2nd gear after a stop.

I'm a truly blessed man because it couldn't have happened at better time and place since I had spent the ENTIRE day in the car, hauling my 75 year-old father to his various medical appointments. Other than the buzzing and rattling, there was no warning. I shifted 1 -> 2 there was a 'pop' and she quit pulling. Thank heaven for a AAA "RV Plus" membership; the tow truck took me, the car and the dog straight home and we rolled it right into the shop.

I've known for a long time that the output shaft on the transmission was in bad shape and actually have a spare 4-speed on the floor of the shop for this sort of thing but, when I came across my 5-speed a while back I figured that it would be better to go straight to the fiver when I had the the time to do the swap. I guess I have the time now...

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.