No 3rd gear in my AOD. Drive it home?

[A Cobra guy]

I have a LenTec AOD in my car. The power is a stock 302. The trans is 9 years old and has been great for over 60,000 miles.
Coming home from dinner Saturday night there was a noise and 3rd gear no longer worked. I was 8 miles from where I was staying on a VERY dark and isolated road so I kept going. The car made it home just fine.
Before the noise the trans would hold in gear. Now additional to no 3rd it coasts in 2nd gear. Reverse works, it is not leaking, and is not making any noise while runing.
It is about 100 miles from where the car is now to my house. The big question is "Can I drive this car home?" With only 2nd gear 50 - 55 mph is a realistic top speed so secondary roads would be in order.

Input please from AOD experts.

[Ron61]

A lot could depend on just what all is broken and floating around inside. If you have pieces of gears or rings loose inside it could catch in another gear and completely destroy the transmission. I think that if it were my car and I was that far from home I would have it hauled unless I decided to get a new transmission anyway.

Ron

[racingrick]

The transmission is likely history and in need of a total rebuild. That is a common problem with the AOD. (I drove one for a couple of weeks like that.) The damage was already done when you heard the noise.

[A Cobra guy]

After some thought I am going to trailer it home. A 1 day rental is only $60. I'm sure that will be the smallest bill it this repair process.

[Rick Parker]

And the best one to chose to pay.