A-525 Weirdness??!!??

[signsoflife22]

OK, My 525 trans started making all kinds of BAD BAD noises(as if it were about to explode). I stopped on the side of the road and went back the next day. Drove it home with some difficulty. Figured that the 525 took a crap(as they do). So, today I removed the trans. Shifting it through the gears with my hand, it goes into every gear and the shaft spins and the diff turns. There is NO fluid in it and the clutch looks pretty bad. At first, I thought I might be dealing with a bad T/O bearing. But that seems OK too. I did notice that the clutch disc may have been in backwards. What would that cause? I bet it would work for a while and then who knows what? I'm just baffled with this 525. Usually the f'n case has holes blown through it and all kinds of obvious failures. But this one seems fine. Can anyone help me diagnose this tranny prob? It's definately a wierd one(lol) Thanks in advance.
Donnie(GLHS #0896)

[Gaboon]

I don't believe the disc could have been in wrong without the center contacting the flywheel.

Things to verify would be the input shaft end play (max .010), then the main shaft bearing , pressed into the base of the case and all bearings for that matter.
Check your diff after that to make sure you haven't cooked the shaft that retains the spider gears.

There's really not much in the transmission, just take note of how you remove things and reassemble in reverse order.