Just jumped on this thread.. Interesting. I did ponder making my 01 4.4 rear wheel drive only but maybe not. I saw a YouTube video where someone had done just that and thought it would be simple but it’s a bit more involved. I’m not a manual gear change fan by the way but that’s just me.
Anyway, the chat about the transmissions made me recall when my 5 speed auto was rebuilt last year. The owner of the company that did it told me some surprising nuggets of information. He said that the ZF tranny in the early X5’s and many other vehicles is a very good strong trans. The problems arise ,however when the fluid is not replaced every circa 40k miles (which is rarely the case). Mine had jumping issues when I bought it at 140k and a fluid change allowed it to carry for another 30k miles until it gave in.
Anyone who knows about these trans certainly knows about the misleading green sticker on the sump pan which gives the impression that you don’t have to service them.