The tranny in the Astro has been giving me various minor issues for some years now. Nobody can find out why - the recommended transmission place said "it's needs a tranny rebuild" outright. (That was 2 years ago, by the way). This year it's been dropping out of 4th gear at highway speeds, so, just avoided taking it out of town. In and around town it was doable. Two months ago the MPG dropped 1 1.5 miles per gallon, and it's downshifting to third alot, and upshifting is really slow and delayed. So something had to be done.
Went to another shop (he's looking for a new vehicle for the Mrs, and comes highly recommended. And he does repairs!) He said he didn't trust rebuilt transmissions - neither do I - but he found a used tranny with 69,000 miles on it. I jumped on it, figuring it had fewer miles on it than the van when I bought it (89,000 miles) and the van is currently at 169,000. Picked it up today - around $3 G total (1799 for the tranny, 1200 for the shipping, taxes, and labor), which includes a 1 year warranty.
I thought a used tranny is better than a run-of-the-mill rebuild by any local yocals, as it's never been apart. And I could have gotten a brand new trans but for significantly more $$$. Just didn't want to spend that with the truck being older. Nice to have my truck back, and we'll see how it goes. It seems to shift fine.
