I had planned to post pics earlier, but for some reason the CD the camera burned the images to had errors.. so I went back out to snap a few more.
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http://www.geekoasis.com/the46/bell01.jpg[/img]
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http://www.geekoasis.com/the46/bell02.jpg[/img]
The truck wasn't sitting in water, and no other part of the undercarrage looks rusty.. my guess is that the bell housing here must have gotten ripped open by road debris before it was parked.
I didn't suspect anything wrong with the tranny, since it seemed to click smoothly into all 4 gears and reverse.. but lo and behold.. it's got problems!
I called around a few junk yards, and a guy about 30 miles from here says he has two trannys.. one he says is in a truck that drives, the other is unknown condition.
So we'll see.. I really want to see if the engine i've got will start and run before I make a final decision, since I may end up having to buy an engine, too.