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Hey Guys,
I have lurked the forums for a while, but never really had much to say. Well now I have a problems that i would love to hear opinions about:

I have been attempting to solve a shake that happens at 70+ when accelerating. I replaced a wheel bearing and CV axle on the passenger side thinking that was the source of the shake, no luck. I had my car up on jacks today to change the oil and I bumped my driver side axle getting to the oil filter, and it shifts nearly a quarter inch. *oh ***** so I start looking at it hopeful it is just the axle, as I have replaced one, another cant be that bad. Well it does appear to be shot, but also there is a significant amount of play between the axle and the transmission. Well that has me a bit disappointed, because I suspect the bearing isn't something I can replace from the outside of the tranny. So my options are this: take the whole darn tranny out and apart to fix this bearing, or let the old bird die gracefully after 19 years of fighting. My only real concern for letting it wear out, is the unpredictability of that, will it explode on the highway, or just seize up as I am leaving my driveway on my way to work. If anyone is willing to offer opinions or suggestions for how to proceed with this, it would be appreciated. The way I see it, if Im in there and I can afford it, I might as well do a rebuild, and if I have the tranny off, why not replace the weak clutch and slave cylinder. Total cost including new wheel nuts(15), tranny rebuild kit(~175), clutch(150), rear end seal (20), slave cylinder(20), and tranny mounts (20), tranny fluid(20), and motor oil(30) would be about 500$. I will never get that money back in resale. Please leave recommendations, if there is a way to avoid pulling everything out, I would love to know about it haha

99 civic ex 5spd
D16y8, s20? transmission
170k miles, but probably a lot more due to a carfax from 2012 saying 174k (rebuild? no paperwork)

 
Rep Power: 222

could get another trans for $100

 
Rep Power: 103

^^^^^^this^^^^^^

when i was 22 i was replacing the civic trans for $150 a pop every 3 months(i was too young and dumb, always powershifting). you could try changing just the differential bearings, but i wouldn't go beyond that. they're too cheap to bother. even just doing the bearings by the time you factor in bearings, seals, sealant, brake cleaner, etc, you're half way to a used trans

 
Rep Power: 367

slap in a new axle to check if it's not it?