I could not agree more. Buying something almost new to me is the same as buying used. You never know what you are getting. It may be the deal of a lifetime or a big hunk of junk.So, you are getting a used piece for "slightly" below new? Now for me to buy used, and this is used without any history known by you other than what the seller tells you, I need a good deal.. I'm not putting too much into believing what a seller is telling you. And anything over 50% of new better be some hard to find stuff. And it better be in the box and not all greasy.
I think you are way better off to pass on that if the seller cant be negotiated with. And bringing cash, letting his wife see the cash, and pointing out he wants it gone and his wife happy work well in my experience.
It isn't like 2wd 4L80e cant be found. You just haven't stumbled up on one you can use yet.
To me, and all the customers I dealt with in the past, any used converter or any used transmission was just a core. Sometimes on transmissions when they got opened, yes they were good and needed minimum parts, other times upon inspection, lots of parts and labour to get it right. On ALL used converters, even the warranty ones we got from dealers that were not returned to the factory, were always taken apart and rebuilt.
I have said on other boards, when it comes to any used converter, stock or high stall, they make great door stops. At a swap meet once, I saw a guy trying to sell what he called a 3500 stall converter, for an extremely good price for that stall rating.. It was one that our company manufactured, and had our part number on it. I asked him if he was sure about the stall. Oh yes he said, had it in his car and got 3500+ out of it, and best of all, it was less than a year old. We stenciled our part number and serial numbered all of our high stalls. A quick look at the serial number and I knew that it was at least 3-4 years old, and the part number was for our typical 300-400 rpm over stock stall TH350 converter and they stall around 1800-1900 rpm. The stock TH350 from the factory stalls around 1400-1500.
Texas t is right on the price also in my opinion. Sellers have been known to stretch the truth.