It doesn't "need a trans". If he keeps it, he'll need a built trans to handle the modifications that he wants to do. The transmission is currently stock is perfectly fine.
There is just no talking to some people man. They only read what they want to see and ignore the rest of it. I just got through looking at the trucks for sale around here, and I can get my year for $24,000, but it has 175,000 miles on it. As you remember I had to drive to another state to get this one with the low miles on it.