Its pretty hard steel, and it looks kinda like it was sheered off of something.
Well we made it to PA, and the seal is still leaking after towing in the heat, but MUCH less. Stop and go traffic in Little Rock and Nashville, then all the way to PA and it only lost about 1/2 quart (compared to the 6 in Phoenix)
So I guess in my case an aux cooler, radiator flush, water wetter, new filters and fluid kept the trans temp/flow good enough to help keep the seal from leaking as much. I'm assuming the blocked inline filter and cooler had the greatest effect.