OK, i just took the tranny apart. Besides from being worn down pretty good... (over 4 years old, never had to replace any parts in it hehe), it was in good shape. There is no way there is any skipping going on. All the teeth are there, and they mesh decently. Like i said, there is no way they are going to skipping between gears, there is still enough gear left to grab.

I was driving it again the other night -- worked perfectly.

When i had these problems, i had the antenna drapped under the body, where the middle of the antenna was hovering just an inch over the controller and motor. I have the FM JR XS3 synthesized radio FYI. Could this be causing interference with my FM radio? if so then wow... lol.