i have worked on transmissions most of my life. when i have a transmission apart on the bench i can tell just how they drive. i can tell if it is abuse, failure to change fluid, if they run over a rock, water in trans.
sometimes when i am telling a couple what took out their trans the wife takes one step back and points to her husband while he remains totally silent.
i have not seen any opinion what is happening on the 2nd gear problem. if we knew what was taking them out then we could avoid that situation.
i think that a lot of trans were replaced because of the broken detent spring and therefore making it seem like more trans failures than there really was there is also the problem of the shift shafts bending.
i have 07 classic with silver eng. 24000 miles and no problems. could it be that mine holds up because i do not down shift till i am almost at a stop, i can shift @ 6000 rpms with out missing a gear, i do not ram my shift lever so it does not bend, i change my oil every 5000 miles, i have heard of the problems and usually wait till i am in second gear to roll on the throttle?
until we have good mechanics that will diagnose the problems we will continue in the same old way.
one of my customers once told me "you know why you are so good is because you over whelm them with knowledge" i find it hard to believe that some one cannot figure out what is going on with this trans problem.
jmho herman