Update
 

The rebuild parts and fluid was $570.00 Been driving it for a few weeks and all is good.

I checked the clutch pack tolerances as I tore it apart and found the 3-4 packs way off. They were about 30 thousands over the max. There was some wear on the packs, but not that much. I know this would have worn the 3-4 clutches out well before they should have. The steels between the frictions got super hot. I compared the 3-4 clutches to the new heavy duty ones I bought and there was 1 less friction and steel. I fit 7 frictions in to their 6. All I had to buy to make them work was a slightly thinner retaining ring. That gave me a nice gap right in the middle of the max/min.

I never did find any reason for the metal shaving in the pan, or why it just quit working that day. It had to be the torque converter.

When I first put the new trans in, the 1-2 shift was very firm. Firm enough I felt that if the van was 2wd, it would have chirped the tires. I emailed Monster about it and never got a reply. The extra hard shift is gone now.

Let it be known, Monster transnission SUCKS!!!