Why I lost 1st, 3rd, and 4th gears. Happy ending!

Had been discussing this problem before:
http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...-Great-Dilemma!
Well I finally got Wallace to a transmission place since I didn't have the time or resources to tear into the transmission. I was feeling pretty hopeless with the current KM132 tranny but got good news on Friday and went today and the friendly mechanic showed me the problem.
This spacer washer sitting towards the back had broke somehow and had gotten lodged into the transmission and had stopped all my progress at moving forward. Stuff had shifted as a result and I only had a couple of gears that were still inline enough to make the transmission usable. Luckily it only chipped a tooth on 5th gear, but nothing too terminal. Wallace is all back together now and is running like a scalded cat again! I got lucky on this one.
Attachment 13917

That was real luck there - shows how tough these trucks can be! I saw the aftermath of a 81 ram 50 4spd that a friend's son had the shifter jam, and he took the shifter and gave it a hard shot - he shattered the main roller bearings in the case.