1st and reverse

[wannabe]

my poor car wont go into first/reverse sometimes unless i stick it in another gear first. does that mean i need to do a gear oil change? only from a stop will it not go in...

[Rope-Pusher]

my poor car wont go into first/reverse sometimes unless i stick it in another gear first. does that mean i need to do a gear oil change? only from a stop will it not go in...

Does the gearshift lever resist going into gear with the engine off?

......................with the clutch pedal fully depressed?

If engine running vs engine off makes a difference, could be clutch is not fully disengaging.

If engine off is the same as with engine running, could be pointing angles on blocker ring for 1st or on sliding idler gear teeth are rounded-off, so that as you try to shift they end-butt the mating part (sounds kinky, I know). If this is the case, you can just take them out and sharpen the tips with a file. Simpler way around this might be to slip the clutch a little as you shift, so there is relative motion between the parts (incest?) and they slide past each other rather than just butt up against each other.

[wannabe]

i am not openiing up my tranny w/o a good reason to...

[theholycow]

Jiggle the clutch a little.

Jiggle it, just a little bit.

[mtheis]

my poor car wont go into first/reverse sometimes unless i stick it in another gear first. does that mean i need to do a gear oil change? only from a stop will it not go in...

Put the car in neutral, let the clutch out, push it in again, then select your gear.

[wannabe]

i tried what pope pusher suggested and it is fine when car is off.

i'll just do what matt suggested. thanks

[mtheis]

If you wanna change your gear oil, you'll need a 24mm socket to get the drain/fill bolts out and 3 quarts of Red Line MT-90 ($10/quart).

[wannabe]

$30!!!! i can't yet, my uncle will help me at the end of the month...

[fa22raptorf22]

Sometimes you have to Double Clutch to get into 1st. Just as matt suggested.

Also, Reverse is a straight cut gear. Which means it doesn't use dogs...its an actual gear, so just crush it in when stopped. It will work.

[Rope-Pusher]

Jiggle the clutch a little.

Jiggle it, just a little bit.

Just be careful - anything more than two jiggles is masturbation.

[Rope-Pusher]

Sometimes you have to Double Clutch to get into 1st. Just as matt suggested.

Also, Reverse is a straight cut gear. Which means it doesn't use dogs...its an actual gear, so just crush it in when stopped. It will work.

If the pointing is eroded and it tooth butts, it may not go into gear no matter how hard you shove on the shift lever. Easiest way around it is the feather the clutch as you shift into the gear, so it rotates past the tooth butt condition.

[wannabe]

Sometimes you have to Double Clutch to get into 1st. Just as matt suggested.

Also, Reverse is a straight cut gear. Which means it doesn't use dogs...its an actual gear, so just crush it in when stopped. It will work.

If the pointing is eroded and it tooth butts, it may not go into gear no matter how hard you shove on the shift lever. Easiest way around it is the feather the clutch as you shift into the gear, so it rotates past the tooth butt condition.

it does go into gear. just SOMETIMES i have issues

[Rope-Pusher]

Sometimes you have to Double Clutch to get into 1st. Just as matt suggested.

Also, Reverse is a straight cut gear. Which means it doesn't use dogs...its an actual gear, so just crush it in when stopped. It will work.

If the pointing is eroded and it tooth butts, it may not go into gear no matter how hard you shove on the shift lever. Easiest way around it is the feather the clutch as you shift into the gear, so it rotates past the tooth butt condition.

it does go into gear. just SOMETIMES i have issues

With a sliding idler reverse gear system, you've got to get 3 gears to be in mesh at once by sliding the middle gear between the other 2. Some times, purely at random, the gears all happen to be aligned and it slips right in. Other times, one or both of the other gears happen to be spun to the position that causes tooth-butt to the idler gear. If there is still some pointing on the axial faces of the gears, the contact is most likely to result in a slight rotation of one or more of the gears and you just need to push the shift lever a little bit harder. If the pointing is worn from shifting while the vehicle is in motion or shifting while the input shaft is still spinning-down, the points of contact can be rounded or flatted and you may not be able to "Muscle" it into gear. That's where feathering the clutch (allowing it to just begin to spin) can spin the input shaft and help align the gears and enable the shift.
If you want to have some fun sometime, find an empty parking lot and try engaging reverse without any clutch feathering (Push in the clutch and wait 5 seconds, to be sure that it isn't even spinning any more before you attempt the shift, too). Note success or failure. Drive forward 20 feet and repeat the process. Do this 50 times in a row to get some statistical relevance. If it blocks 15 times out of 50, you have 30% blockout rate. 3/50 is 6%, etc - Double the number of blockouts to find the % rate.

[wannabe]

huh? math? nope.

[Rope-Pusher]

huh? math? nope.

With a name like Kelly, I thought you might have some Irish blood. Irish are known for Dublin.