Advice for my winter project

[WhipE350]

Originally Posted by feelyx

When you say bearing marks... are they scratched into the input shaft or just grease marks? No the starter should not be engaged.
Stick a pencil in the pilot bearing hole, mark it and compare it to the tip of the input shaft length.
Usually the trans will go right on if everything is lined up, also that starter might be an issue.

I'll go look closely again. The marks were nice clean lines in the grease from when we pulled the trans back out, no scratching. Yes I agree based on my measurements it should slide right back in. First timers luck.