a4ld failing?

[ae_ce23]

I bought this 89' 2.9l ranger 4wd, automatic, a few months ago, I'm assuming it never had its tranny fluid changed. its fluid is dark like oil, fluid is full and doesn't leak, it had a little smell but it didnt smell like something burnt
i have a feeling the transmission might be going but i am a little unsure how bad it is

shifting is at times is slow(1 second) only when fluid is cold...
first gear shifts hard around 4-5 rpm

slipping seems to exists only when cold but has only happened once so far..
when i was crossing (google "mid bay toll bridge") the road is a 55 mph bridge with a hump in the middle...

well i had a windy 25 mph head wind and was climbing this hill.. the rpms increased only as i applied more gas.. to the floor and my speed was still dropping during the climb... i reached the top doing 40 mph... still putting my foot to the floor hit 55 at the bottom of the hump, and still the pedal to the floor it dropped to 50 mph... during the experience it made no odd noises.. I panic and pulled the car over as soon as i exited the bridge.. checked it all over shifted the gears, and took a long crawl home... on the way home i hit a 55 mph flat stretch.. I hit 65 mph but I didnt have a headwind.. when i drove the next day.. it was fine on the bridge with a warm transmission.. is that slipping? it didn't look like the videos on youtube with the rpms jumping like if you were in neutral.

I heard the extreme warnings on flushing the transmission, It sounds like a 1 in 100 fix

I also heard mixed things on changing the fluid after so long

the truck has 30,000 miles, I'm assuming 130,000 it was used as a hunt/offroad truck for the past 7 years..

I'm wondering what i'm looking at, I'm hoping to get some good information
I know it will need a new tranny soon, it seems well abused..

i know people are going to say sell it trade it and so on
but I had to pay 500$ just to register the damn thing in florida
and would have to pay that much to register something else
i've seen some rebuilt transmissions online for around 1,200 to 1,500

im wondering for now what is better(I dont have the money to buy a new transmission right now)
1.leaving the fluid as is
2.keep the fluid and change the filter only
3.change both
4.other

it would be cool if anyone that responds can leave a little info on there experience with transmissions... to help me gauge the best route

i was going to go to aamaco, but i heard alot of bad things online about them.. if wanted i can posted some photos of the fluid

 

[exbass94]

Sounds like it's slipping. You can try changing the fluid, but I doubt it'll do much good. It will most likely fail pretty soon regardless. If you DO decide to change the fluid, and the trans fails shortly after, please understand that the new fluid is NOT what caused the failure. Like I said, it sounds like the damage is already done and this trans will likely fail regardless.

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74839

 

[ae_ce23]

lucas transmission fix

from what I've read it sounds like changing the fluid might make the issue more noticable the damage sounds like its already done, im starting to wonder about the lucas transmission fix stuff.. I just heard of it once but never really checked into it.. it might buy me a few extra months or finish it off? I wonder about how long i can get out of it before it goes toast..

 

[ae_ce23]

AAMCO Sucks

so yesterday i took it over to aamco, i know my o2 sensors are bad, it miss fires on a low idle, they told me, there is nothing wrong with my transmission.. and to fix the o2 sensors and bring it back, but they found the hard shifting... at least it didn't cost me anything to listen to them, i know the transmission is failing and they should have found it...