I have been running it in 1st gear for a few months because it grinds when I try to put it in 2nd. I was going down a small hill and decided to put it in neutral on the forward reverse selector to let it coast and after 200 feet the rear tires locked up.i hooked up to it with a crane and picked the rearend off the ground to load on a trailer and the one tire would spin and the other would spin the opposite.when shut off the drive shaft will turn easily but when running and in gear it stalls the converter but will not move
As I said in the other (hijacked) thread, I believe that 4th gear has welded itself to the pinion shaft, due to lack of oil flow for lubrication during your 'angel gear' event. It maybe possible for another gear to have done so depending on what gear you were in when you were free wheeling down the hill. Raise the rear wheels off the ground, be sure you are in 2wd, & attempt to operate the transmission with the gearshift in neutral. Will the wheels move in neutral? If you engage a gear - it should lock up - except for the gear with the problem. If this is the situation, it can only be repaired by removing the transaxle from the machine - the front & rear covers need to be removed / axle housings / brakes / crownwheel ....... everything....... Hopefully, you can salvage the pinion shaft, as you will likely need to cut the welded gear from the shaft. If the pinion shaft is damaged you will need to buy a new crownwheel & pinion gearset & whatever else is damaged...... Unfortunately, this job is not for the fainthearted & will be beyond the capabilities of your average DIY repairer.
The Transaxle isn't hard to remove, just swapped one out on a customer's 580K. Lift it up with outriggers and stands, pull wheels, disconnect linkages, park brake, u-bolts, lower out with a transmission jack and floor jack to keep it level and slide it out the side. Teardown is a different story. Older axle (external park brake) can pull the top and rear covers and see everything going on inside, newer (internal park brake) don't appear to have as much access, but I haven't dug into one of those yet.