Driving the xfire a couple days ago, off the line running up thru third (have the 6 speed manual) and Boom feels like I hit a rock. Car shuttered, and all seemed to go back to normal. All shifts were clean, but I knew something wasn't right. I had an intermittent jolt that I honestly though was a skid plate coming loose and hitting the road.

So run the car to the friendly mechanic, and an hour later got the call. transmission bearing exploded! transmission in need of major surgery.
little detective work on his part and a rebuild is 3K (rough numbers) new transmission is 9K from Chrysler!!!!!
So current transmission is on its way out, rebuilt (22K miles being installed) and my car will sit on the hoist for a couple weeks while the new clutch (may as well right) is sourced and delivered.

Now I am really glad that my run to the dragon was shelved cause this happening away from home would have been a very bad thing

Gotta love these cars.
good news is since it is going to be in his shop for a while, he is going to tinker with it and complete a number of little tasks and preventative things (bearings, brakes, and such)

car has 116K miles, anything else that anyone can think of that I should be doing while it sits in pieces.