Help getting w59 transmission back together

OK so Im doing a rebuild on my tranny since my input shaft bearing was going out and I've gotten it all torn down and back together until I get to the counter shaft. I'm trying to install the counter 5th gear and synchro. I follow the schematic but I can't get the counter gear to move down the shaft enough so that I can put the snap ring on. The outside edge of the bearing behind the counter gear is almost completely covering the snap ring groove and no matter what I do I can't move it. I figured out that the synchro pull ring is the problem as I can take that out and everything fits perfectly. The cone ring assembly is actually 2 pieces made up of the interior cone ring and the exterior pull ring and it's just the interior pull ring that is giving me issues. No matter what I do it always projects slightly past the rest of the cone ring and synchro (as seen in this picture). This leads to the counter gear contacting it prematurely which forces the spacer and bearing further up the shaft and prohibits me from getting the snap ring on. Any suggestions? I have been turning the pull ring so that the notches fall into the grooves cut for them and aligning the 3 holes on the front of the counter gear so that slide over the projections from the cone ring so I don't think that's it. It only needs to move the width of the snap ring but even with a hammer's persuasions it refused and sounded completely solid. This is what the pull ring looks like by itself.any help would be awesome, thanks!

 

I'm wondering if the spacer that goes between the snap ring and needle roller bearing is a different width than the spacer that goes between the counter 5th gear and bearing. If they are different widths is it possible that you accidentally switched them?

 

Well I thought about that but the shaft diameter changes and the holes in the spacers are different so there's only one way they can go.

 

Is it possible to flip the #3 hub sleeve around?

 

Yeah but I don't think that's it since it can slide all the way over the clutch hub and move next to the intermediate plate. It free slides and isn't in line with the pull ring. Plus I tried that out of frustration and no dice

 

We need the wisdom of @gearcruncher...

 

Judging by what I can see and what we know , the op is only replacing the bearings .
With this said , I would be comparing the old bearing thickness to the new bearing thickness .
Its really the only thing that has changed and its not uncommon for incorrect bearings showing up inside a rebuild kit .
Did you match up the bearing numbers from old to new or perhaps measure with a vernier caliper ?
Did you use all the same shims ?
The thickness of a snap-ring is well over 100,000 of an inch . Almost thinking something else is mis-assembled on the counter shaft?

 

So, what was it, OP? I’m in the middle of my W59 rebuild, almost completely torn down, and have some things I need to understand. The hub #3 operation is one of the remaining things I need to know. I hope you can remember stuff from that far back!

 

I am curious, when you say the input shaft bearing was going out, what were the symptoms? And did you indeed find a bad input shaft bearing when you tore it down?

 

jekerskel If you were asking me about my input bearing, no, it did not show any signs of having failed. It feels and turns exactly the same as its replacement bearing, with our without putting pressure on it side-to-side or radially.

 

did it show any wear on the race? Why did you suspect that it had issues? Was there noise?