i returned my th250 today for a th350 out of a 73 olds and im wondering if there are any thing i can look for that will tell me the tranny is in good shape and will work or do i have to try put it in a test it out first.
Other than dropping the pan, inspecting the fluid, and replacing the filter, no, there is no way to tell without putting it in and seeing what happens. It's a boneyard trans, you don't know how it was treated.
if you are considering a bone yard tranny. my best advice is look the car over real good. if a person floored the car alot, there may be an imprint in the carpet behind the accelerator pedal. if one rear tire is worn a whole lot more than the other, you my have a heavily footed or abused tranny. if the tread wear on the rear tire/tires has chunks missing from the tread blocks, you have tires that may have been spinning alot in gravel (this is also bad news for the rear wheel bearings and spider gears). if the grain on the top side of the gear shift knob (on a column shift) is worn away, you have a driver that probably dropped to lower gears or maybe just drove with their hand on the shifter most of the time. a bunch of empty tranny fluid bottles under the hood and in the car/trunk is a bad sign. good luck on the hunt!!
I have used quite a few bone yard transmsions and have only 2 bad ones( and they exchanged them no trouble ).. I look at the fluid before i drag them home if it is nice and pink with no stink then its usually OK thats unless it looks like it just had a recent service. I have used several 200R4's as well and still no problems but look real good at the car it came from that will tell you a lot as well goos luck Ken
