That's a wild story who would have thought of diagnosing a missing thrust washer as cause for a transmission issue!?
My 22r testimonial:
I bought my truck a year or so ago so it's been around for a while before I got my grubby paws on it. That being said, no idea how many miles on the original block. It had the head replaced at some point though as I could see the stamp of reman on it.
The beating I gave the old girl learning how to wheel was pretty intense, she spent a lot of time singing if you know what I mean.
I eventually flopped the truck onto the passenger side while attempting to "bounce" over a downed tree in the trail. When it laid on the passenger side, the keys fell out of the ignition. That allowed the engine to continue to run while on its side. This lasted about 2 or 3 minutes before I was able to find the key and turn the truck off.
We got it back on all 4 wheels and I was able to start it up and "clear her throat", then proceeded to drive it home.
The truck was parked for about a week after this, then it was time to take her back out for Labor day long weekend at Sadie Creek ORV Park in Port Angeles, WA.
She started up a little rough when loading onto the trailer but I thought nothing of it. Once we got to the campground though. It was more than rough. She took a bit of coaxing to finally get running, and when she did.. she was knocking like a Jehovah's Witness on a Saturday morning.
This was when we decided, lets drain out all the thin oil.. and run some thhhiiccc oil.. and by thick oil we meant gear oil.
After doing the trail oil change (forgive me Ghia), She was still knocking but I was gonna give her hell till she blew anyway.. We wheeled that day for over 6 hours.. with her knocking away like a damn air hammer the entire time. Mind you, this truck is open diff front and rear with some 33"s on it and I wasn't taking the easy ways.
Long story short.. she lasted that whole weekend, 3 days worth of abuse at roughly 6 or so hours each day. Here's the testament to the 22r, it never actually blew. I wheeled it again the following weekend and she was finally starting to lose some power on the top end so I decided to park it and pull the tired 'ol 22r for rebuild.
During the tear down, found the #3 rod bearing to be almost non-existent. Just a sliver of bearing left and it was in pieces when I pried it out. Talk about a consumable part!
I've done a full rebuild on that engine since, bored the block and replaced the crank, rods, and pistons. She's sitting in the garage awaiting her time to shine.
