Need 4-speed Help

I bet Brewer is right.
My money is on the pilot bushing.
Swap it out for the factory style, it should just tap in, not a lot of heavy hammering, if it goes in tough, or you have any doubts, ream the bushing until it fits the input shaft easily, but not sloppy.
I'll bet the shank of the input shaft where it tapers up to the input splines is bottoming out on the roller style input bearing, causing a major binding issue.
You could even measure this with the trans out.
Good luck,:-D
Tom.