39 Tranny troubles

[Mart]

I had a buzzing noise from the newly assembled (from the best used parts I had) trans on the first longer drive in my 32 Sedan. I selected neutral, coasted a bit, re-engaged top and
carried on at a lower speed. It did not happen again. I suspect it might have been the second gear sort of shaking possibly due to a dry bush. Once I had more miles on it it did not happen again.
This is not related to the UJ problem I had recently.
From a visual inspection via your photos, all looks good.
What do you intend to do?

I might suggest just driving gently and hoping it might improve as things bed in.

But your statement that it is reluctant to select top gear makes me unsure.

Personally I would just try and get some gentle miles on it and reappraise depending on if it starts happening more frequently or less frequently.

I would tend to go for one of the thinner 85/90 grades of oil rather than thicker as I want to make sure the oil is getting into all the nooks and crannies.

Re the oil level could it be a classic case of rear axle oil migration?
Lowered front end, lowered rear and rubber rake can set that in motion.

The oil level issue might not be related to the grinding.
The grinding might not be related to the difficulty in selecting 3rd.

There may be one, two or three issues going on here.

Have you checked the axle oil?

Good luck with it.

Mart.

Edit: It might be that the top gear synchro needs changing. Maybe a good used one is better than a new one. A friend built a box lately and the trans would not turn freely. There were dimensional errors in the synchro ring. It was effectively too thick. I can't remember if he thinned it down or refitted a used one, but the new synchro ring did cause a problem.