Good news guys, I rebuilt the trans and it actually worked.
Took me awhile as there were a couple other broken pieces inside and it took the parts place forever and a day to get what I needed. The "complete" rebuild kit wasn't complete after all. I needed the reverse band and a another misc spacer. All in all I think this is something all TDR's should try on their first gen trucks if they ever have a need. Just get a good manual, I used a Peterson, and tear into it. Moving the trans to my heated basement to rebuild it was the best move I made, clean and comfortable.
The trans is not complicated at all. Rebuilding the valve body and installing the shift kit was the hardest part of all. Between the torque converter, misc parts like oil and the reverse band, and the rebuild kit I spent $500. 00 from start to finish.
It took 3 hours for disassembly (from out of the truck to in pieces in my basement), 4 hours to rebuild the valve body and install the shift kit (disassembly and assembly), 3 hours to reassemble the trans and another 5 to put it in the truck and hook everything up. I also spent 2 to 3 hours running around picking up parts. I took it out of the truck myself, but bolted it up with the help of a friend. And like most new things, I could do the next one in about half that time.
But, I saved approx. 600-650 dollars instead of having a local shop do it for me. They wanted $1,000. (+ torque converter) if I brought them the trans out of the truck already and would have cut the warranty by a third. :-{} Goobers. :-laf
Hey, maybe next year at SOP we can have an automatic trans rebuild session for somebody.
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
