Fair price for a 4x4 TH350?

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Zayshley

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I have a TH350 (no torque converter + unknown km) from a ‘80 Blazer that came with a NP205, was told it was working perfect before it was pulled out. Just wondering what’s a fair price to ask for it. ($CAD)
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Vbb199

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It's me personally, but I don't buy "ran when pulled" transmissions, they're all cores unless someone can show me some proof like we drove it before it was pulled or it visually at least appears new, that said, for a th350 with no converter, probably max 300$ USD

The converters, at least around here are what's hard to find for th350s.

If that came with it, maybe 400$ max ?

That's just specific to my economy/area though.

And really, I know how it goes, if you need one badly enough, you're willing to take a risk. Which i as well have done it. So I'm not necessarily discouraging buying it with my opening statement , but I'm always suspicious of transmissions.

If it was pulled a year ago from a running truck, and sat, it'll likely have accumulated moisture, which means the clutch disc's are separating from their steel backing plate, and the cast iron and steel rotating assembly components now have rust on them also.
I dunno why... maybe it's the sharp temperature changes here that causes the aluminum to "sweat" but sitting transmissions are almost always rusted internally.

I've pulled them apart, and seen other people pull them apart, and have 100% confirmed it with the local builders in the area.
 
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Matt69olds

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Unfortunately, there is enough “worked fine when pulled” stories to make people question, and with good reason.

I’m going thru a 400 for a friend of a friend, it’s going in a turbo LS powered mustang (only way to make a ford fast!!). They guy he bought it from said it was rebuilt 10 years ago, and has been sitting since he sold the car 9 years ago.

This trans was obviously built by a YouTube certified tech. The guy knew just enough to get in trouble. He used wheel bearing grease to hold the thrust washers together and as assembly lube for the bearings. The grease was still packed in the bearings, that stuff doesn’t dissolve in ATF. The worst part was he got a couple snap rings in the wrong location. The snap ring didn’t fit properly in the groove, it jumped out of place, destroying the direct drum, center support, and case. The other parts were destroyed from lack of lube, I’m guessing the bearing grease restricted the lube flow. On the plus side, the frictions looked flawless. I’m guessing the trans didn’t last long enough to burn them up.

Paid 500 bucks for this turd, the only useful parts are the output shaft, pump, and oil pan.

To answer your question, if they guy will let you pull the oil pan for inspection, that would be a huge plus. Look for excessive crud in the pan, smell the fluid. Brown fluid doesn’t necessarily mean it’s junk, just means the fluid has been neglected. If it’s black, smells burnt, and crud in the pan, the price needs to go down. If he won’t let you pull the pan, that’s probably a sign he doesn’t want you to see inside.

I’d say 200-250 bucks tops for a core is a good price.

The place I buy my transmission parts won’t sell a remanufactured stock 350-400 converter without a core. The cores are difficult to find now. Who would have thought that would have ever happened?! I guess 40 years of people throwing away stock converters thinking “nobody will ever want this!” has come back to burn us. I personally have tossed many in the scrap pile because the scrap value was more than the core charge.
 

SquareRoot

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She was alive when I locked her in the basement....
 

Grit dog

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Scrap value is high. Idk what cores go for.
But to an individual looking for a good transmission, it’s worth a 2-4 of Canadian or Kokanee…IMO.
 

Grit dog

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However if that driveshaft and torque rod are part of the deal, the ds is easily worth a 26er of rye. And there was a guy on here looking for a torque (not to be confused with touque) rod just a couple days ago.
 

Cdncarnut

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I paid $300 for mine, including the lockup converter.
 

rpcraft

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I paid 50 bucks for a ran when parked TH350 and glad that was all I paid. When I took the pan off you ould tell all the clutch fiber was laying in the bottom of the pan. I bought a master rebuild kit (I think that was around 180 bucks) and a buddy of mine rebuilt it and put a shift kit in it that he had laying around with an upgraded sprag (watever that meant, lol). That was back in 1999 and although I am sure labor and parts have gone up the cost of a "ran when parked th350" hasn't in my book. The friend rebuilt it for 150 bucks because he was learning to build race transmissions. I doubt you'll find a deal like that on labor anymore but I still wouldn't pay anything more than a core price for a used transmission that I did not personally see pulled from a vehicle that was running well.
 

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