drivetrain noise?

[69oddball]

I need help. I had a drivetrain noise that was a high pitched grinding sound, of course I was stupid and didn't ask anyone before I started working on it. I had the transfer case rebuilt(which the shop said it really needed it), I put everything back and the noise was still there. Now I have everything back out up to the clutch, the bearing is rough, but when I set the tranny aside I noticed that the output shaft was kinda loose. So I spun the shaft and it all felt kinda rough I took the top off and there were no needle bearings where the input shaft meets the rest of the gears. (when I pulled the transfer case I put the tranny in first so this wouldn't happen) The trans has been opened before probably by the po the real bad thing is I cant find any bearings in the trans. So my question is could this be the noise that I have been hearing ? If it is what are my options ??:?

 

[ROKDWLR]

When mine made that kind of noise it was the rear drive shaft's double cardan joint.

 

[69oddball]

Thanks I checked the carden joint and it seems fine. I guess that I need to check the cost of changing over to an automatic trans or rebuild my stock 3-speed and put in a new clutch package. I would appreciate any feedback I can get on this.