I looked into rebuilding myself a while back but I don't think I'm gonna try it. But a guy was telling me about how he rebuilt his Dakota tranny. He said the only special tool you REALLY need is this big metal thing for the overdrive unit, and everything else can be improvised. He said you need standard hand tools plus a few specialty things like snap ring plyers, in-lb torque wrench, a slide hammer, 3-jaw puller and the like but lots of people have those. A shop press doesn't hurt but the guy was telling me he was able to improvise and rebuild his tranny without one.

The factory service manual really helps with this sort of thing. I found the transmission chapter online once and looked at it, though I can't seem to find it anymore.

Rebuilding was tempting with rebuild kits w/steels going for $200-$300 and bushings are cheap, but knowing myself I'd screw something up.