FYI, if this wasn't a 2.95 first geared trans to start with and you change to the 2.95 first gear your 5th gear ratio will decrease because 5th gear is a compound ratio. If this was a Fox era box and used the 0.68 5th gear with a 3.35 first your new 5th ratio with a 2.95 first will be 0.59. You can however swap 5th gears to get back closer to the original ratio. Hanlon has take out 5th gears that will get you a Z-Spec 0.63 ratio 5th gear. The next step up is aftermarket 5th gear set that are a 0.80 ratio, really designed for road racing and I wouldn't advise using those in a street car.
Also, if its coming apart again I highly suggest installing a countergear support plate. This allows you to preload the countergear, and seemingly eliminates oscillation induced failure of 3rd gear.
6sally6, no special tools are needed to rebuild a T5. Good snap ring pliers, both internal and external. A press is handy, but even that's not 100% necessary. I rebuilt transmissions for year without one by using brass drifts and carefully cutting the old bearings off using a whiz wheel and a cold chisel.
Anyone rebuilding one can also contact me if you get stuck. I've built and rebuilt dozens of T5s over the years, everything from stock rebuilds to Z-spec conversions to full on race transmissions using G-Force parts (good to 600HP and 500 lbs/ft.). The biggest secret is simply laying everything out exactly as it came apart, so it goes back the same way.
Here's five important pointers I've learned over the years:
1.) Use some heavy grease to hold the individual roller bearings in the input shaft.
2.) You cannot get the countergear in or out of the maincase with the front bearing in place. To get it out you will need to at least cut the cage off the front bearing. To get it in, install the rear bearing and cup in the case, then place a piece of 1/4" steel across the cup (so you aen't pressing the bearing into the cup; the countergear will bear on the nub in the center of the bearing as it sits a few thousandths proud of the bearing cone). Then you can press or drive the front bearing on with a brass drift.
3.) Make sure your shift rails are all in neutral on assembly. If you don't you will end up with the trans stuck in 5th gear. When its going together right you'll have to install the top cover at an angle and slide it towards the left side of the trans to engage everything right.
4.) ALWAYS bench test the trans before putting it in the vehicle. I keep an old stock shifter around for this. You want to make sure you have every gear. You might need to spin the input shaft just a it to get them in and out of gear; that's normal.
5.) DO NOT ever, ever, ever touch the 1/2 synchronizer hub. Don't try to press it off, don't try to beat on it. It does NOT come off. That hub is installed on the mainshaft at the factory by installing it super hot on a freezing cold shaft and allowing it to shrink onto the mainshaft. If you pres it off it will be ruined. It will get bent or tweaked in such a way that the 1/2 sliding sleeve will no longer move across it properly. At that point the mainshaft becomes junk. Its an expensive mistake, ask me how I know 
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6sally6 wrote:
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