[Formulajones]

Depends.

I'm sure Will has probably already been through this but there are a couple of critical things with TKO's on setup that need to be spot on before digging into the guts of the trans as a probable cause.

First the bell has to be dialed in. These transmissions use a taper front input bearing, not a ball bearing like a muncie. So it's critical the bell is within spec centered with the crank. I think Tremec likes to see it within .004-.005" max runout. Anymore than that and it's likely going to have shifting problems as that will put a lot of side load on the input shaft. Nearly every bell I've ever checked needed adjustable dowels, even OEM stuff.

The only other issue would be clutch release and that goes with any transmission. If it's not releasing properly then I don't have to tell you that will cause difficulty shifting.

The achilles heal with these TKO's has always been the size of the gears vs the size of the syncro. They increased the size/width of the gears in these transmissions to increase the strength, which makes the gears heavier. But they didn't increase the size of the syncro. They are still using the same size syncro found in a Muncie or Top Loader, which has smaller gears in comparison.
So the syncro has to work much harder to slow the gears down in a TKO, hence the reason early on why there were complaints of high rpm shifting and literature many times listed these transmissions as 5500 or 6000 max rpm shifting.
The cure became upgraded syncro materials, carbon fiber linings etc.... can't increase the size unfortunately but better materials have helped.

Sounds as though Will has found there may have been a bad batch of syncro's in the supply chain. I haven't heard back from Liberty yet and don't suspect I will today with the time difference. Maybe tomorrow.