I am surprised you had problems! I have lost most of the pitch off one I did and it didn't distroy the trannie!
I would make sure that it IS the trannie first, the width and linearity coils could be the culprit you know.
I know you didn't want to disturb the lopt and left it in but in reality its better out of the set.
I still would remove ALL the external connections from the transformer execpt for the EHT lead and check each connection on the transformer to the transformer metalwork on ohms for shorts or leaks, If nothing look elsewhere.
OOOOP's posted this on the wrong V4 thread