i tried

Me too.

You know, I wish I had ripped the trans down a day earlier, or waited another day to buy a hardened 4th clutch shaft. I ordered a shaft off Ebay this morning, then this after noon I opened up the trans only to find it had been rebuilt and had a hardened shaft installed. Guess I'm flipping the one I bought.

that sucks i take it the hardened one is not stock

They went to hardened in 2004. The splines would wear off and you loose 4th gear.

if ya dont mind me asking what did ya pay for the one off ebay?

$50 shipped. I've seen several for between $46 and $52 plus shipping

and i suppose i would have to do what your doing to put one in? i don't know if mine has ever been rebuilt

Changing the 4th clutch shaft is a pain. You need to remove the side pan, then the trans oil pump, the valve body, and then you are to the gears. Remove the 4th gear clutches and then pull out the 4th clutch shaft. Reverse the order to put it back in. I don't think it can be done with the trans in the car. I'm doing mine when I pull the engine. Even then I'll need to remove the axles. And might end up pulling the trans as well.

please do a write up on it so if i decide to try it i have something to go by i'm going to go to gm and have them run my vin to see a service history to see if it has been rebuilt or not

Chances are, unless there was a failure, it has not been done. Doing it out of the car and on my stand was easy, could do it all in a few hours. If you follow the order of the pictures that'* the way I did it. The shaft is pretty much in the center of the trans.