Sad day for my rex

About two weeks ago I started getting a noise when slowing down. It sounds almost like a baseball card in bike spokes. It is getting worse so I took it to a shop. I was thinking it could be the center differential as it is worse when the trans is in neutral or the clutch is pushed in...not so bad when it is in gear and the clutch is out. They think I have a gear failure in the trans, not the diff. I had hoped I would get more life out of her. It is a 2005 with about 136k on the clock. There is no real point to the post, just wanted to commiserate with people who would understand. If anyone has advice I am open to hearing it but I will probably just drive it until it dies and sell it as is after that.