Minor Details on Transmission Rebuild

I finished up installing the fifth gear and the shift fork for fifth and reverse gear.  I went ahead and temporarily installed the tailshaft, top plate, input bearing retainer, and the shifter to test everything out.  It seemed to not want to shift well into 3rd or 4th at first but after going through the gears a few times it smoothed up. 

With the transmission case and internal gears assembled, I've a few smaller details to finish up. 

 

The existing speedometer gear on the output shaft is a green, eight tooth gear.  This gear works fine with up to 3.55 rear gears.  A speedometer gear with fewer teeth is needed if you want to use more than a 3.55 rear gear.  I've 3.25 rear gears currently installed but might upgrade after the new transmission is installed so I decided to switch to a six tooth gear.

The M7000A rebuild kit comes with a tailshaft seal but not the bushing.  I ordered the bushing and the speedometer gear from CJ Pony Parts this past Wednesday.  They are often a little slower on shipping but the cost was good.  I don't mind waiting as there are other things I need to finish up and money to save to finish up the project anyway.

I purchased a replacement input bearing retainer which is steel instead of aluminum.  The aluminum piece was held in place with four 8mm bolts (right in picture below).  The new one has beveled bolt holes so it seems like you would need more of a machine screw to hold it in place properly (left in picture below).  The bolts only get torqued to 20 ft/lbs so the machine screws should hold up but I don't really know what I'll do here.

I also need to set the endplay on the input shaft.  When I bolt down the input bearing retainer, it is more difficult to turn the input shaft.  I don't have any shims behind the input bearing so I'm wondering why there is not more clearance.  I'll check to makes sure the input bearing is fully seated when I have time to go out in the garage next.  If this is the issue, it is very easy to fix.