Mine, at 330k now, use to whine (only loud enough i would notice it with no radio on), so i dropped pan, found lots and lots of metal debris as you said above, replaced filter and added back valvoline full synth import atf.

No real reduction of whine noise for quite a while, maybe 5000 miles, then it slowly began to quite down, not gone but down about 80-90%. It otherwise function perfectly, smooth yet firm shifts up (only the 1-2 is firm) and smooth down, downshifts appropriately at highway speeds if throttle is dropped and OD works smoothly too. Mechanics say to just keep driving it, they think its OK, it worries me on a longer 1-2 hour trip to deer camp.

I'm sure its still gonna blow, some day. Yet after reading this thread, I've decided to go the dealer rebuilt route, have a buddy in parts so I'll at least get the 20% mechanic discount and take it to a trusted mechanic to swap out.

There I can sleep better now....