AT Valve Body Swap..?

[Dogfish]

My daily driver, an 86 LE 2WD AT with 305k miles is shifting hard into 2nd. Based on what I have read this sounds valve related. I have another '86 with a good transmission that I could swap in.

The valve body assembly, however looks like it could be swapped in a fraction of the time to swap the entire trans. Has anyone done this? Any opinions?
Thanks
-Jim

[NEC]

I don't see why not if you are competent. Make sure to follow the fsm regarding torque specs. I know earlier toyotas had problems with the rubber check balls in the valve bodies wearing out and causing these type of problems. Another thing to consider to is overall mileage and wear on the clutch plates.

[Harbilly]

On my 86 I had to replace the rubber(?) balls at about 135000 miles. It was worth it as the rest of the tranny was so 'young'.