Not Ranked
The Toploader pricing issue is a classic apples to oranges situation.
David Kee is the only person out there who can build a brand new box--stem to stern--and that includes the case and tailshaft if you want it. Nobody can do that.
I was asked to look at a "rebuilt" Toploader that came from the southern part of the U.S. a year ago. $1,500 for the transmission and the only thing that I could see that was rebuilt was that the builder had elected to put in a rear seal and bushing. The rest of the unit was old and had been together for a long, long time.
The drain plug was full of filings and the fluid looked as though it had never been changed. That is the "rebuilt" version that is all too common. Even the better rebuilds don't have new shifter rails/detents/shifting cams. The stuff isn't available. David Kee has gone to a great lengths to have those components manufactured and the tooling cost is not cheap, either.
When the price of a TL "rebuilt" seems too good to be true--it probably is.
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