[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by SirCharles982

we had that problem with our gearboxes too...i figured out that the lock washer you put on the shaft to hold on the pinion was binding with the other gears...so we removed the lockwasher and just used the newer set screws that were included in the parts bag... try that and they shouldnt smoke.

This happened to some of us last year, too. We tried trimming the circlip down so that it didn't rub, but ended up just taking it off. We went through the season without a problem. In fact, we just stripped the transmissions for the first time since we assembled them last January, and they were perfect inside -- no visible wear. These are nice transmissions (although our left-hand transmission still growls just like it did a year ago).