Transmission Leaking

I believe that it has a lip seal that is installed from the outside, but the manual lever would need to be removed from the inside. You would need to drop the pan to access it, but you would not have to take apart the whole transmission. That shop sounds scary to me!

I agree. It's a realatively easy job. Drop the pan, remove the nut on the outside (downshift)shaft, remove the large nut on the manual shaft, pull the shaft out while holding the downshift shaft in place and replace the seal. Take a picture beforehand so you know where things fit together when you put them back. Torque specs are 12-16 ft/lbs for pan bolts and downshift nut and 30-40 ft/lbs for the manual lever nut.