[Dick Linn]

This may or may not be your problem. If you don't have the spacer tubes in the transmission really snug, when you shift from forward to reverse you will be slamming the gears forward or back on the shaft until they stop. The Bellville spring washers were intended to be used to add a certain amount of preload. On another thread it was stated that the thrust generated by these helical gears parallel to the shaft was about 190 pounds if I recall correctly. If your spacers are sloppy, this will slam things around and could tear up the gearbox. I'm still trying to find out what the correct spacing is to use the spring washers. If too tight, they cause quite a bit of drag.