Sharing My Dumbness

[1972ChevyGuy]

Went to rebuild my 3 speed saginaw cause wife is cheap I knocked the little gear off the speedo and it fell into the tailshaft, messed with it until i was sick, finally got tired of it and took the sidecase off. I loosed the bolt and went to pull the tailshaft out and all the bearings on the pilot shaft fell out, so I think.... well, ill just put them back in..... I only had 8 of them, i checked my handy haynes manual and it shows 14, so I call the tranny shop here to make sure, and sure enough, 14 it is. This tranny has been running FINE with just 8 for 10 years now, so I put 8 back in it, hoping it will work. Can't get it in 2nd or 3rd, so i look and the bearings had came out before I got the tranny bolted back up, so I got realllllllly pissed at it and just left the bearings out all together. Drop the tranny in for the 9th time mind you....start up the truck and put it in reverse to get out of the garage and wow, it backed up so nice, no shimmy or anything on the shaft. I take it for a run around the block, trying to baby it. It was running good except it sounded like a monster 18 wheeler in 1/2/3, the tranny was singing hard I thought, no prob..... ill deal with the howl. About the time I said that the whole tranny just fell apart, the gears got binded up, I guess the bearings that were missing let the shaft vibrate a little bit and get the syncronizers off? Well, since wife doesnt want to spend any money I hunt the junkyards....4 hours looking and nothing. I finally found one laying as soon as I was about to leave the 5th junkyard. 25$, I figured wife wouldnt complain too bad about that, guess ill put it in today, What started Friday and me just dropping in a new cluth and pressure plate and putting my floor shifter in turned to hell Its tuesday and i dont even have the tranny back in. <-- cries