Thought I'd follow up on this post since there were no replies and quite a few views. I finally found a shop that could fix the input bearing, but the problem is that my original assumption about getting the old off held true. In fact, according to the mechanic there ( who I honestly believe was being truthful ) the bearings in Reverse in Fifth needed/ or should be replaced while at it. Anyway after adding up the required parts to get this simple input bearing replaced, it made more sense to just get a rebuild kit and have the whole thing rebuilt. The guy wasn't hurting for work, and said that I would only save 2 or 3 hundred tops to just get the input bearing fixed. Furthermore, he said that I could get the kit myself, he'd just charge me for labor. He said the trans was mint, except for the input bearing and wear on fourth gear. Long story short. Couldn't come up with inexpensive do it yourself repair. But do have a rebuilt that he said would outlast the floorboards. Turns out previous owner was hauling way to much firewood on a monster trailer. Explaining the sharpened fourth gear and bad input bearing. If I hadn't already replaced the clutch and bought a new slave cylinder and throwout bearing, I might have just went with a salvage yard tranny, which run around 275 to 400 around here. Unfortunately, this isn't the end of the drive train problem. Don't buy the cheap slave cylinder with the clip. Tried two and about to put in a real one. Both leak into the bell housing at varying speeds and frequency, and none of the various attempts that I've made to get the quick disconnect to connect have failed. Fool me twice, shame on me. Even putting original teeth and sleeve version on new slave failed to fix leak. Have more info about bleeding and such, but nothing that I don't think has been covered before. But I've got lots of experience in this area of the drive train for M5R1 version, and would be glad to help if anyone has a specific question(s).
