Trying to figure out why my reman 6-speed is failing...

[TwIzTeD_3kGt]

Backstory is my Cherry Hill reman 6-speed shifted notchy from the first day I used it. Then after some NLTS and track passes it began to block me out of 3rd (sometimes 4th) gear at high rpm. The 1-2 shift also became worse.

The first oil drainage looked like hell. Full of metal. This was after about 1k miles and 1 track visit. I used 10w-30 Mobil 1 at the time.

Filled it with RP 75w-90 and shifting felt a little better, but still notchy. Still getting blocked out of the 3rd gear shift at high rpm. Put another 1k miles on that fluid and drained it the other day, still some metal but nothing at all like the first oil drainage.

Now I have the bellhousing off to send over to Pampena and I can see the 2nd gear engagement teeth are looking pretty bad for 2k miles on them. They aren't shot, but they're worse than all the other gears. All the other gear engagement teeth look perfect, including 1st.

So what should I be looking for to explain the gear blocking at high rpm and 2nd gear wear? Should it be a shift fork issue? A gear shaft or something not shimmed properly? Could my clutch hub being loose on the disc have something to do with it (another issue I discovered upon trans removal)?

The only things I can note that I saw are:

- the shift cable attachment on the top of the trans, the one with rubber sandwiching the bracket holes, had some play while the bolts were tight
- it's very difficult to move the shift forks between gears by hand with the bellhousing off. Not sure if that is normal.

Halp me please!