Guys,
I lost reverse a few days ago and now have the T-56 out and the extension housing off. The plastic spacer that holds the roller bearings in the rear output bearing is trashed, and the snap ring between the bearing and the reverse gear is broken- looks like it was damaged by heat as it is deformed. BTW, its a 96 with 105k miles on it.

Does anyone know of a good reason why that bearing would fail? The transmission started making a vibrating noise under load in the higher gears right after I replaced the clutch (6 months ago), but all other operation was normal.

I am planning on replacing the bearing and putting the transmission back together. Other than the fact that it would be "nice" to rebuild it while it is out, do you think it is absoutley necessary? I found some metal filings on the magnets, but no chunks of metal and all of the gears that I can see look like they are in good condition. I haven't checked the endplay of the main and counter shafts yet. Also, all of the syncros were working properly.

This car has not been driven hard, as it is my wife's car and she doesn't know how to powershift. I have a B&M ripper shifter on it and have only powershifted a few times, otherwise I take it pretty easy. I had it adjusted too tight initially as it would pop out of first occaionally, but fixed that after a few months.

Finally, does anyone know who makes that rear bearing and its part number? I want to avoid buying a whole rebuild kit.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Scott