NV4500 experts: Shift tower question

[DirtyLarry]

Some of you may remember my NV4500 swap posts from a few months ago and may also remember I was chasing some noises afterwards. The big noise was fixed by replacing the output gear on the NP205 tcase while there was still a lot of noise left over. In the end, I had enough of the noise and got a brand new NV4500 replacement trans. Not a reman…but a brand new one. All is great now and this sucker is quiter than my ZF S6-650 in my HD truck as well as the SM465 that was removed months ago.

Original thread on the NV4500 swap

The question is the first NV4500 had a shift tower with a short stub (left) shaft while the new one, which is supposed to be the same year of trans has a long one (right). I first ran the long shift tower with the new trans but hated the lever location and overall height but noticed if I put the long tower on the old trans the trans would not shift. Just bind up. On the other hand, if I put the short tower on the new trans it seems to shift just fine with shorter gates with a much better shift lever location.

Anybody know what the difference is between the two towers? Both are supposed to be for a ’98 GM K3500. Anybody know if there is any danger in me running the short tower on a trans set up for the long one? Again, the short tower works in both transmissions but the long one only works in the new trans.