I put in a used one out of a '99 Frontier and so far it's doing well with about 50K on the tranny. I would think a rebuild should be fine as long as it's done right. I think the dealer was just trying to make you think it's a freak thing... surely it's not the first they've seen!

Removal of the tranny requires removal of the exhaust system, torsion bars, crossmembers, etc., so an alignment is a good idea afterwards, although if the t-bars are installed in the exact same position it will be fine. Just good to be sure!

Mine and my twin (both early 2000's) in the club both went at just about 80K. There was another one in the club that was starting to show signs of trouble about the same mileage when it got traded in. Out of curiosity, what is your mileage?

Sorry to hear another one went T.U!