I was hoping to get to 300,000 miles before attending to the transmission. But the whirring is quite pronounced now.

Local shop near me looked at it. Advice is "don't get too far from home with it".

Torque converter or pump is failing.

Great people who I know run this shop. They are getting back to me later after pull and internal inspection with some numbers on shop bench rebuild vs install 100,000 mile used unit.

What is your opinion of taking the used instead of the bench rebuild? Difference is probably about $1000.

What if I had a brand new one with torque converter in Prescott, Az?

Many people have had success with a used 100k+ unit and they can typically be found for sub $300.

In my worthless opinion, I prefer to know where my transmission has been so a rebuilt unit is the best way to go so long as a reputable shop does it and you know EXACTLY what's going in. Parts for a full rebuild aren’t cheap (see my thread HERE) though I'm sure the shop can get parts cheaper than I can. Labor will be the killer and hopefully you don't need any hard parts. A couple other side notes: you obviously don't need the shift kit from my thread, and there's a 99% chance you don't need sprags which will reduce the price by about $150... I replaced mine because well, I'm right there anyways.

Sounds great. How does that happen?

I feel the same way. A 100K unit from a vehicle that has done a lot of heavy towing could be almost worthless. One would never know!

I'm working on it.

A used aW4 with good fluid with over 100K on it wouldn't scare me. Know how many I've sold with no issues?