Riddle me this. I let my cousin borrow my truck, when he brought it back he said "..something is wrong with it.." when i went out to go drive it home, the thing wouldn't go into gear. It's almost like it half engages. Put it into any gear, let the clutch out, and it grinds, and then pops out. What might this be?

 

Probably broken/worn-through shifter fork(s) - there are two. Very common failure point with this transmission.


You can leave the transmission in the vehicle and just remove the upper cover/shifter assembly from the cab. You'll see the cover held in place via ~10 bolts once you pull the carpet back.


Lots of info on this topic in here. Try a search under my ID and you'll find a few.

 

My cousin wouldn't borrow anything again if I let him use it and was working fine when I left it with him.

 

he's not gonna even ride in the poor old girl again. So you think I should pull apart the top of the trans and look and see if the shift forks are straight?

 

Yes, I do. But it's unlikely that they are bent. The more typical failure mode is that they wear through or fracture from impact.

 

and then just rebuild that part of the trans? Is there a kit with the forks that you guys have found is quality?

 

You can swap out the whole shifter/forks assembly as one unit or just replace an individual fork. Doing just one fork involves a little more work, but not a bad project.


But you're getting ahead of yourself. You need to figure out what the actual problem is first before deciding on a solution.