I guess I should have typed out a little more of what I was trying to say. Sure it looks horrible but I was talking about how after a rebuilt all of the internals are cleaned thoroughly and put back togther. You'd have to hope that the filter catches most of the crud and crap. Have to figure that even after the rebuild that all the curd and crap stuck in the cooler will be caught by the filter.......like I said, all it takes is one little piece of debris to cause havoc.
I say give Lucas a try. Worst case you're out $15......but when you're considering the time and effort it's going to take to go through the trans again $15 is a drop in the bucket. Also a shudder is sometimes related to a seal that's going bad......My turbo car has developed a shudder under moderate throtte from a dead stop....I'm gonna be rebuilding soon too.
Edit: I'm sure if you started a thread about pan drop pics you'll be shocked to see some of the carnage.