different, in hopes that it will go away all of it's own!


What usually happens in the M40 is that the very hard bearings dig into the not- so- hard countershaft, and make big ruts in it. The ruts allow the countergear to move away from the main gears, and out of alignment. They then grind themselves slowly to bits.
If you rotate the shaft, the (already pretty used) bearings have a new bit of countershaft to chew up. In the meantime, the gears are back to (about) where they should be, and they quiet down. For a few years...
But getting this far involves pulling the tranny, and either being REEALLLLY careful not to let any shims drop out (hard) as you pound out and turn the shaft, or almost complete disassembly of the gear case (time consuming and frustrating) to get everything back together. Either way, you end up cursing Ford!
Actually, I think that the earlier 48- count (122) M40 bearings are still available from the regular sources- but I had NO luck finding the later 40- count (140- era) stubbies...
Toby