Does the input carrier on a 700R4 turn freely? Mine doesn't, and I'm stopping at that point. I would hate to have to disassemble it but my memory is telling me that it turned freely last time I assembled one of these. Just don't want to assemble it all the way and find out something got bound up.

 

If I remember correctly on mine I worried about the same thing. I think the input shaft was tough to turn but it would turn with a vice grips on the shaft. Pretty sure it's normal but I'm not the best person to chime in here.