Loan

Welp... Monday I find out if I get a loan for $1500 or not. $845.18 will go to AAMCO for the tranny repair.. but that leaves me with $654.82 for play money. Automatically, $170 is going to a Steeda Tri-Ax shifter. I'd like to get a Steeda heavy duty rear sway bar.. anybody know where I can get a good deal on one of those that'll fit a 98 Mustang GT? $70 for subframe connectors.. I can get a guy to weld 'em for $30 - $40. That may take up all of the money.. but at least my car will be a bit more stable & fun to drive ;D. Oh also a strut tower brace.. how much do they generally run? Thanks!

-Mike

Reply to
<memset
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What are they repairing on your tranny?

$1100 will get you a branad new world class t5. If you can do the labor yourself this may be a better route for you...

Reply to
Andy Budwill

I can't do it myself... LOL oh how I wish I could. They're replacing 5th gear, slider for 5th/reverse, and syncros. Dropping the tranny & putting it back in is $300 in labor. All other places charge $400-$450 for that alone. Tearing it apart was more labor, but it's that way with everyone else too.

-Mike

Reply to
<memset

I can say the probability that AAMCO is offering the best price for your transmission overhaul is slim to none. I sure would be shopping for least expensive competent mechanic, if I couldn't pay for it out of my pocket.

BTW: Why the hell are you borrowing money to do nonessential modifications to your car?

Reply to
351CJ

Darn :(

I got pretty taken by a transmission shop once..... $1100 or something to replace several items inside my t5. This included the labor to drop/put it back in. About a year later I destroyed 2nd gear in it..... I purchased a brand new world class t5 for $1100 and was able to put it in myself.

Andy

Reply to
Andy Budwill

Same here, $1500 for a rebuilt T-5. I lived, I learnt...

Reply to
Mike King

I was so angry at the shop afterwards...... Ugh live and learn :(

Reply to
Andy Budwill

The bank I'm with allows a minimum of $1500 loan requests. "Why the hell" do you care what the hell I do?

-Mike

Reply to
<memset

Oh and also I _have_ shopped around. We don't exactly have a wide selection of tranny shops where I live. There's AAMCO (national chain), Wilcox Transmissions, and Lifetime Transmissions. Wilcox, where I went before, is employed by a bunch of f*cking a**holes who rip people off. Lifetime Transmissions I refuse to go to because they own Wilcox. Also given my 5th gear was out & reverse was out.. I wasn't even about to go traveling.

-Mike

modifications

Reply to
<memset

I'm Glad you asked, Mike!

I CARE because there are a great portion of our nations population living in severe financial distress due to being led to believe that it's OK to play now and pay A LOT MORE later.

I CARE because I've seen enough people destroy their credit and futures (home ownership, buying a new car, etc.) by overextending themselves financially for silly nonessential things... If you pay cash as you go (provided all your bills are being paid) you can piss your money away on anything your little heart desires, and you do not dig a financial pit you have trouble getting out of (If you can at all) like you do when you piss money away you have not yet earned, and have to pay it and the interest and fees back.

I CARE Because it is a fiscally STUPID thing to do, and you may only be doing it out of ignorance not from a fully informed position. Your financial choices are yours to make, but it would be silly if you were to make a poor financial decisions without understanding what you were doing, and nobody offered to point that out to you before hand.

None of my concerns may apply to you, but somehow I doubt that, otherwise you wouldn't need to take out a loan to have your transmission repaired. If they don't apply please disregard them...

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Reply to
351CJ

Mike, you need to get an estimate for the install of a new tranny. You pay more for parts, but save on labor, cause it takes time for them to pull the tranny apart, make bad decisions about which gears to replace, and put it back together wrong.

With a new tranny, they pull the old one, and stick the new one in.

Less to screw up, and the wrench doesn't have to be so smart.

You should consider doing it yourself also, the biggest problem is just dealing with the heavy tranny.

John

Reply to
John Shepardson

New tranny lowest price was $2,200 locally. Believe me I've shopped around already. The transmission I have was new a year ago (already bought a new one, but had someone else install). I'm not very experienced so what may be "not so hard" to you is "ungodly hard" to me ;).

-Mike

Reply to
<memset

I understand everything you said already, but I did not appreciate you asking "why the hell" I did something that I did. I do appreciate your concern, but not when presented in the original way. Thanks for watching out though.

-Mike

Reply to
<memset

wrote in news:o5%jb.722$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr23.news.prodigy.com:

And AAMCO isn't? Dude, you need to get out more.

With those choices, I would've gone to a Ford dealer.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '93 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

Reply to
Joe

Very good post 351CJ. I was also wondering if there was an issue with having the cash to pay to fix the trans. I have definitely been there before, and had one hell of a time digging out. Banks and credit card companies make it way too easy to get credit people don't need and can't handle. They do this without regard for the well-being of their customers.

I have just recently paid off all my debt except my house and one car. The improved cash flow from eliminating all those payments is going to get rid of the car payment in total of one and a half years. The most important part is that I now also have a little money in the bank and will continue to add to it. The next transmission, sick dog, or anything else that used to go on the credit cards because it was the only way will now be paid in cash. The life-sucking banks can suck the life out of someone else from now on.

Memset, I appreciate your response to 351CJ's post. I don't know anything about you, but want you (and everyone else) to know that credit, used wisely, can be a great thing. Used un-wisely (which is how the banks want you to use it) it can RUIN your life. One thing to consider if you want is that even if your bank has a $1500 minimum, you can immediately give back any part you don't need and not pay any interest on it.

Like I said, I don't know you or your situation. You may already know all this and not need anyone's advice. You sound, however, like I'm sure I sounded in my early twenties. So, in my mind you're in your early twenties. I'm 39 now. If someone had convinced me (not just told me, but really made me understand) of this stuff 20 years ago, it would have saved me a LOT of hassles.

Sorry I went a little long and got in your business.

Reply to
Yen

A transmission that was "new" one year ago should not be broken now under anything close to normal use. Did it come with a warranty? Unless I had beaten the hell out of it, I would be looking for someone to fix this under warranty.

Installation of a trans is not too bad. You need some jackstands, a few tools, and preferably a transmission jack (which you can probably rent for a few bucks). It's scary looking at first, but if you have a mechanically inclined friend you can probably finish it in a weekend. What always helps me is to remember that somebody built the car, and if they can build it we can take it apart and rebuild it.

Reply to
Yen

I think tearing apart a transmission & rebuilding it is something I might look forward to doing as a project in about a year. I don't think it was a brand new tranny... they claimed it was, but I'm pretty sure it was just a rebuilt one they bought (Wilcox Transmissions--f*cking crooks), but I am through with them now.

-Mike

Reply to
<memset

Ya I thought about Ford also, but AAMCO here is pretty nice. Everybody around here (including my regular mechanic) has high thoughts of AAMCO. Ford was charging $1100 to replace a clutch before, so I didn't even want to call 'em about fixing this transmission problem :/.

-Mike

Reply to
<memset

Yen, I appreciate you looking out for me also. I've already thought it out though. I plan on paying it off as soon as I can... hopefully within 3 months, definitely within 4. I want to pay as little interest as I can. I didn't know about the whole returning any part of a loan.. didn't even cross my mind. I think I _will_ do that. That is very much appreciated. Thanks man =).

-Mike

Reply to
<memset

Read all the terms carefully before you sign. Make sure there's no pre-payment penalty, and you should be able to pay it off as early as you want.

Reply to
Yen

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