Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hey all,

I decided to take the ol girl into the gearbox place this week after a few niggling leaks n stuff. After a chat to the dude his preliminary diagnosis was a busted rear seal in the gearbox, leaking into the transfer. appartently a common issue (doesnt roothy have a quick fix for this?). I opted to get the seal replaced instead of the quick fix..

anyway.. I dropped it into the shop this morning and got a call this arvo to be told the rear bearing had gone on the gearbox and this is most likely what had taken out my seals. Then he quoted how much it was to get the rear bearing replaced and i think my heart jumped a few beats... I got quoted a bit over $1700 for it, which involved NOT removing the gearbox from the vehicle...

after I was told this.. I rang another gearbox place and they quoted another figure that was in the same ball park as my original quote... anyway.. i gave the go ahead to replace the bearing but i'm curious as to how big a job this actually is..

could anyone elaborate or suggest why something like this costs so much? Is this close to a full rebuild? Is there anything I should do to ensure what was quoted, was actually carried out? What else SHOULD be done if the rear bearing is being replaced.. (all bearings replaced, etc?)

I'd just like to get a better idea on what i'm spending my last cent on... looks like 2min noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a few months now :(

Dunno how relevant this is, but I removed my gearbox myself and dropped it into a Gearbox joint cos it was making bad noises. They stripped it down and found a broken input gear and badly damaged main gear cluster. Both of which needed to be replaced. They quoted me about $1400 to do the work which included the parts.

BTW the gearbox was a Nissan Cabstar 5 speed in my MK Patrol.