I have a 1998 Suzuki Sidekick that I LOVE it is 4 wheel drive 4 door and has the 1.8L engine with 5 speed transmission.

Problem 1 = The transmission has been making some scary whining sounds in 1st through 3rd gear so I picked up a used transmission that I was TOLD would fit. It came from a 1994 4 door 4wd sidekick with the 1.6L engine. NOW mechanic tells me it WON'T fit. Anyone know the answer? will it fit my 98?

Problem 2 = Almost every time I roll to a stop slowly in the thing lately just as I am almost stopped the drivetrain LOCKS somewhere either in rear diff. or transmission and I get that very abrupt unpleasant STOP. Just kind of scared it is going to do that at 70MPH one day YIKES!

Any help at all please folks.

on your second problem check to see if the nut on your rear pinion did not come loose, on your first problem it could have the wrong bell housing and the input shaft could be a little too long and the rear splines could be off, but it has been a few years on that one, I have seen bearing kits go for as little as 70.00 on e bay.

mrfuelish,

    Thanks for the advice, I am going to have to check back with mechanic, he just replaced both the shaft seals in the rear end because I was getting gear oil into my drum brakes back there, maybe he left something loose. I am still at a loss on the transmission compatibility issue. mechanic hasnt even looked at it he says "his book says NOPE" on the 94  to the 98 .... Grrrr

Side note I now have a 5 speed transmission from a 1994 that had the 1.6L engine in it that I don't need. According to the guy I bought it from it worked GREAT... For sale now in Boise Idaho if anyone wants it.

mrfuelish how hard is it to do the transmission work replacing those bearings? Maybe I will just do that myself I used to be one heck of a mechanic A LONG TIME AGO LOL

It sounds like you have a sidekick sport.  The tranny you picked up was from a regular sidekick/tracker.
Simply put the bellhousing off your tranny on the new tranny and it will bolt up and work fine.
You will also have to use your tcase on the new tranny, if the new tranny came with a tcase, since the new tcase will not have the correct spline output shaft to fit your rear driveshaft.

For the second problem, it sounds like something is binding in the drivetrain....could be the tranny, could be the tcase, could be the axle, could be the brakes.  You are just gonna have to look everything over, spin the driveshaft by hand, check for looseness, spin the tires....check to see if you see or feel anything binding, or if anything is excessively loose, see anything that doesn't look right, etc.  Jack the rear end off the ground and block it up, so you can rotate everything and look it all over.

The trans rebuild is not bad at all if your just doing bearings and not syncros, I just get a friend to help out and put a 4x8 sheet of plywood on some saw horses so if a little part comes off you won't loose it, (like shifter dogs on the collar)you might have to borrow a couple of pullers and move the case around to get the last case part back together but it's not bad at all, the trans that I swapped the bell housing on the front input shaft was too long and I had to change it, it destroyed the bearing on the flywheel, so just measure both of them with the bell housing on and see if there close.

I would not rebuild a tranny without replacing the synchros.  It isn't that much more expensive, to get the synchros and isn't that hard to replace them.

If you have the 2wd transmission you won't be able to use the 4wd one, even if you swap the rear output.  The 2wd transmission, at least on the non-Sport Sidekicks, has a longer output shaft.  And if your tearing that far into your transmission you might as well just rebuild it while your in there. 

Oh, and if you need a rear output seal Autozone has it, just listed under Suzuki Sidekick, not Geo Tracker.  That should save you two weeks of places ordering the wrong seal...

Thanks for all the answers and info folks... Whole mess is gonna sit on sidelines for a while now. I posted this and then the wife walked out on  me... I will just drive the jeep cherokee I had originally bought for her for a while til I can afford to work on the zuki.