At my last big meet, the first 3-4 guys where there and helped me clean up a mess in the garage. One of the things we cleaned up were a few spare transmissions. Of course everyone wants to see transmission guts and we pulled a few apart. The thing that stuck out to the guys the most was how if the parts are loose and sloppy, that's correct for our transmissions. Buickman104 can confirm that slop, play and wiggly is how the parts in the trans should be.
Ready for the tip that will save you a lot of hair pulling? Behind the park gear is a bearing. It rides in the back of the park gear and if the gear comes forward at all the bearing falls. This makes it so the diff cover won't sit flush by itself. Never use the bolts to try and pull it on. Me, I almost always pull the park gear and glue (with grease or trans grease) the bearing to the park gear. Then reinstall. By doing so, you know that bearing isn't going to mess with you once you are ready for the diff cover.
