<VV> bearing noise in 1, 2 & 3, but not 4

[Wesley Heiss]

so after a lot of work i got my 62 rampside on the road last week. running
and driving fine except it is making a noise i cannot figure out. it's a dry
bearing whirring sound in neutral, 1st, 2nd & 3rd gear with the clutch out.
when you put the clutch in or shift into 4th the noise isn't there. rather
loud when you are stopped or on the road and then in 4th it's as quiet as it
should be. from neutral when you put the clutch in you can hear it slow down
and stop within about 2-3 seconds.

sounds like the front transmission bearing to me as the input shaft would be
spinning it under those conditions and not when the clutch is down. but why
it would not make the noise in 4th is confusing. is there any way to inspect
the bearing or swap it in the vehicle? i suppose it is likely if the front
bearing is bad the rear will be too and the smart thing to do is pull the
transmission. ideas?

so if the whole transmission is going to have to come out i have a second
question. can you pull just the transmission without pulling the whole
unipack in a FC? obviously some things will need to be disconnected to tip
the front end down and slide the trans off the input shaft. just not sure if
i can get enough angle to clear the big crossmember. might be able to drive
the truck to a friend with a lift and extra transmissions to do a quick
swap.

sure would hate for the transmission to blow up on my way to denver!

thanks,
wes