Lost my manual trans... Ideas on replacement?

#1
Driving back on the highway at 65mph, my 2003 Corolla LE with a manual 5-speed made some horrible noises and I lost 2nd and 5th gears. 210K miles. Have only had the vehicle 60 days (bought it used). 1st is very hard to start in (grinding noises), it will pop out of the other gears like 2nd. I drained the fluid and saw some small metal shavings. So I pulled the tranny out on Saturday anticipating it wouldn't be hard to source a replacement used. Locally in St Louis or Western IL they are scarce and asking $1200-1500 which is crazy. I have found a few for sale from far away on Ebay but ai concerned on a used trans over Ebay and the time it'll take to arrive.

Any suggestions on sourcing one? I would rather not pull one of these in the junkyard myself w/o air tools and risking condition but that is a Plan D or E for me at this point. Would rather have one that is pulled and tested.
 
#2
After searching high and low, I found one for sale (private sale) for $500 from a wrecked Corolla. As long as this works I think I got lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
 
Top