a couple months ago when i pulled the starter to start the motor swap i noticed some ball bearings fall out of it (at least i think they fell out of it). i got the starter from a friend of the family that builds starters and alternators (he built me my 140 amp alt) and know he wont do me wrong, so...

there were about 6 ball bearings altogether, some larger and some smaller (two sizes) and they were in the starter and in the bellhousing. he tore open the starter and said they didnt come from there (the bearings were too big to be in the starter anyways) and there is no way they could have come out of my TO bearing AND its not the pilot bearing either.

does anyone have any ideas what this could be!?!?

 

not sure on a t5 but i'd bet the input shaft has a ball bearing

 

The input shaft has tapered roller bearings, and they would have to come out through the bearing retainer; a failure like that would be quite obvious.
The TO bearing uses ball bearings, as does the bendix on the starter drive.
That's about the only two things they could have come from.

 

I bought a parts car with a t5 that the guy who rebuilt it forgot the retainer. It really was quite obvious that something was wrong, especially once I pulled the motor