Just to follow up, I took it apart tonight and it's pretty much what I expected. the collar/shift fork that slides the shifter into gear is badly worn. I can hold it in place, and it grabs the gear like it should. But when you let it rest on the detent, it barely grabs the gear and I can see how it would easily slide/pop off the gear and back to th synchro rings.
I've attached a few pictures. You can see the part I circled in red... that shiny part doesnt look like it should be there.
Pic 3 is the shifter resting on the detent position. It barely engages the gear, but engages enough to make it work.
Pic 4 is what it *should* look like when its fully engaged.
I guess mr. Hicks is gonna get a call on Monday hopefully he can get the parts I need
hard to tell, but it looks like there should be a bushing or something in there...
I may decide to put in a set of high speed gears and either keep it for myself, or do another "how to" write up on how to install them, and sell the chunk to someone on here for a good deal that doesn't have a press or the means to do it themselves