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I talked to a guy from Long enterprises and learned something interesting. He said the fine tooth gears are not necessarily weaker, but they are more sensitive to other issues. he said the #1 cause of stripped 3rd and 4th gears is a worn main bearing. if the shaft moves out of place the gears will ride on their tips and fail. makes sense to me.

Rick Long's a smart guy. VW's quiet running "low loss" gear design has held up to my 240 hp engine, no problem. I don't think I'd seriously drag race or off-road race with them, but the greatly increased contact ratio of the smaller toothed gears make them a lot stronger than most people give them credit for.

hopefully this is enough trans, cuz it's all the monies I got and then some.... Built by Jim Sartwell.

Ok, I've put 415 miles on this rebuilt transaxle. It is shifting smooth and feels great. it ended up with a LOT of new/used parts inside, main shaft, barings, 1st, 2nd gears, reverse idler, super diff, and a bunch of other stuff. I was told to change my gear oil after a few hundred miles because all the gears were re-positioned. here is my drain plug after 415 miles.

what do you think? too much metal? about right? check it in another 500 miles?
when I cleaned it off with a paper towel there were no big chunks, just fine particles.

Too much stuff on that magnet .. possibly R&P breaking in at new mesh position.
The next oil change will reveal if a real problem exists.

You are of course using a good GL-5 gear lube ?

It is a little more than I expected to see. i'm using valvoline 80w-90 durablend, it is GL-5. i'll change it again in a few hundred miles and see how it looks. unfortunately that will be in the late spring, it's getting cold and they'll start salting the roads soon. I was hoping to find pictures of other people's drain plugs after a re-build to compare but could not find any.