Got my 92 back from the tranny shop. Right at $1400 for the rebuild with 2yr/24K warranty. Asked them to save the exciting parts for me to look at.
The part that caused the failure was a VERY thin radial roller bearing that appears to act as a thrust bearing for the OD planetary parts. Once it went it allowed the other parts to shift back an eighth of an inch and start rubbing on each other.
I guess 127K miles isn't bad but it sure looked like Ford could have made the transmission an extra 1/8 inch longer and put a heavier bearing in there or something.
Having seen what failed it's now very easy to understand why they said DO NOT TOW IN OD for these things - It clearly is not a heavy duty design as far as OD loading.