T5 Trouble

Sounds like its time for a new clutch,TOB,and bearing retainer. Have it pulled and checked out by a pro.You may seriously think about getting a new tranny that T5 will eventually let you down mine did especially with mods and hard driving. If it starts getting real hard to shift gears between 2nd and 3rd get ready for her to go. and a T5 isn't worth rebuilding IMO that and they don't make ours anymore.

is it worth re-building ourselves? thinking of pulling mine to change the reteiner and doing a once over with a re-build kit at the same time.

If you can handle doing it by all means go for it while you are at it put in a better shifter stock ones are to sloppy and account for alot of the problem on that 2 to 3 shift. I dont have that kind of expertise to fix it myself on tranny's, the bill for mine to have been fixed was going to be so big for the extra couple hundred I put in the 3550. if you do make sure to mark the DS orientation if you dont and put it back together you'll get a bad case of the vibes.