[Alan Roehrich]

A good converter builder will usually spot a bad sprag with the converter apart. Normally, if there is a sprag problem even suspected, they just replace the sprag since the converter is apart, because a sprag isn't as expensive as the labor to put it in.

It should not be a problem to just swap the pump out in a PowerGlide, you don't even have to pull the pan, you just have to check the end clearance. I've swapped them in the pits, with the transmission hanging from a vise by a big Phillips screw driver.

It is almost a certainty that either the sprag is bad or the stator shaft is slipping. However, ordinarily if the stator shaft slips very much, it will usually spin by hand.