Update - I replaced the clutch/pressure plate and had the flywheel loved a bit. Replaced the clutch fork, pivot, pilot, and TO bearing.
I ended up not trusting myself entirely on my judgment of the beautifulness of the gears in the transmission and since it was already out I brought it to a local shop who gave me the once over for free which was super cool of him. He agreed that the gears looked great and that there was nothing wrong with the cluster or synchros. He said 10:1 the issue was with the shifter but then he noticed the "quail" or what I would call the bearing retainer was all marred. He said that the throwout bearing that it rides around had chewed it up and created the slop. He also said that it's a $20 part online and probably 15 mins worth of work if I wanted to take on the replacement myself otherwise, he'd charge shop minimum + parts etc. He was gracious enough to help so I told him it was worth the expense and he said "Son, it's a good experience take it home and get it done"
The dilemma now is that all the retainers I'm finding say "for car only" I can't find if this is in reference to say cars only as this would be a light-duty truck or if that means this is for camaros and that's it. Here's a link to the part that I'm referencing. I'll get the calipers on the trans as well.
https://www.allstategear.com/Saginaw...p/awt301-6.htm
