Well I took my time yesterday and today and managed to fix the 5th/reverse slider issue. Turns out, I had the hub of the slider the right direction but the slider itself must have fell apart at one point and I put it back together backwards.
I did manage to do everything without pulling the trans again. The top cover will come off through the hole in the tunnel without cutting any sheet metal but I had to make a hole in my already trashed carpet to get one of the tunnel cover bolts out. The transfer case shift lever (if you have one) has to be in the 4 hi position or removed and it has to do a small spin to come out.
Worst part was getting the output shaft bearing off. The way I do it is with a rounded over alignment punch and a heavy hammer on the back side of the reverse gear working through the top of the case. This works fine with the transmission out of the truck but there isn’t enough room under the dash to do it with it in. So I used my air hammer with a rounded over bit. This works much faster, but threw some sparks which means pieces of metal. Maybe it’s not a great idea but neither tool even made a mark in the gear.
Slapped it all back together, filled it with fresh 5w-20 Castrol Edge and took it for a drive. Sweet, sweet 5th gear, welcome back!
Sorry for no pics, I don’t like to monkey around much when I’m working.