Trans fluid brown but doesn't smell burnt.
Started shifting a little hard.
O/D light started blinking yesterday.
Doing a fluid/filter change now.
About a teaspoon of magnetic goop on the magnet in the pan.
Found four tiny, aprox 1/8 diameter, non-magnetic discs in pan too.

What are the discs?
Trans shot or not?
Why?
Thank you!!

 

Update: tiny discs


are from the gasket, nevermind that issue.

 

1) What year, engine, transmission, mileage (odometer) etc.? This info helps.
2) Are you installing MerconV fluid or going with something else?

3) As you likely know, the tiny discs are "stops" which hopefully prevent overtightening of the pan gasket.
When I did my pan drop and fluid refreshment, the OE gasket had those discs.
The replacement gasket did not but has worked just fine.
I opted for a replacement pan with a drain plug from Dorman....$11.
FYI: Drain plug installation kits are cheap and easy to install. You drill a hole in the pan and get someone to braze around it.

4) Brown fluid isn't a kiss of death.
When you're done, you will have changed ~1/2 the ATF, removing ~1/2 the dirt in the transmission.
Do another pan drop a week later to reduce the total amount of dirt even more.
A pan with a drain plug facilitates subsequent "drain & fills".

5) When you get the fluid clean, consider adding a 10 oz. (red) bottle of LubeGard. Yes, that means even doing a third drain & fill if the second drain was dirty.

The LubeGard (red bottle) has smoothed out transmission shifting for me and lots of other people.
There's a good chance your "hard shifting" will improve because you addressed it early.

6) We cannot tell if your transmission is shot by your brief description.

Please get back to this thread when you're done and have driven the truck a bit.