My recently rebuilt M21 had a random ticking noise that I noticed in 1st & 2nd gear. The tranny had to come back out for other work so I opened up the case to take a look inside. All the gears look great but there was about a bb's worth of metal in the oil. The only thing I haven't taken apart to look at is the front shaft & counter gear bearings. I don't recall lubing the front bearing prior to installation as I was thinking it ran in oil. What do you think?
Thanks
Bill
ps I've now looked at front bearing & it looks fine, where the hell could this bb size/amount of shiny metal come from????

billyd, are you sure it also ticks in 2nd? Sometimes the 1-2 slider, when in 1st, will contact the reverse idler gear. Most reverse idlers I have seen have chips missing from the edge of the gear and marks on the slider -- but this only ticks when in first gear. :(

I have actually started "tapering" the idler with a die grinder prevent this.

Hope this helps
Joe

The metal came from somewhere. Take it apart and check the cluster thrust washers they are probabily bad letting the cluster bounce around. The reason most reverse gears look bad is the stupid stock shifter that must be put into reverse before you can take the key out.