I may go the "cheap fix" route on the tranny. After looking into things, I'm pretty sure it is just the shifter bushing. But, I also like reliability and re-building or replacing the whole thing pretty much puts any concern about bearings to rest.......just have to see how much $$$ is in the slush fund when I start wanting to tinker with things again.

Another t-case question.....I've come across an 87 4-cyl Turbo 4Runner with an automatic tranny. Does that t-case have the 23-spline input on it?

And thanks for the answer on converting a 21-spline to a 23-spline. I would defintiely go with the crawler gear conversion parts. I saw those on Marlins website and didn't know if I could just put them into a 21-spline case and convert it.