ok I have had this problem for a little while. when I try to pull out in 1st gear I go to put it in gear (with the clutch the whole way in) and it will not go into gear unless I force it.Same with 2nd but from then on its ok. there is no grinding noises and it does eventually go into gear, but its starting to get anoying. Would it help to change the tranny fluid maybe? or is something worse than that? Like I said there is no grinding and it does eventually go in if forced. thanks

 

My 98 Ranger does the same thing. It only bothers when it is very cold and only when going from first to second gear. I live in Northern Maine where -40 is not uncommon. I was told that synthetic transmission oil would cure it but it didnt seem to help it at all. I found that if I double clutched it, it goes into second gear fine and within a very few miles it is warmed up and quits bothering until it gets cold again. (sometimes when I am going down hill, I even skip second and go straight to thrid gear) I wouldnt force it into gear if I were you as you may end up bending the shifting forks.

 

you have a point there, but when you pull out into an intersection you gotta keep moving . so you actually tried the synthetic and it didn't work?

 

ive been chasing lousy shifting in my '00 since the day i got it, ive tried almost every type of tranny fluid the best thing i found was regular merc iii with that lucas crap dumped in and topped off with the merc.
its smoothed it out just a little bit but i still get a real nasty notchy clunky feeling when shifting too fast into second and some what blocky clunk-clunk into third, the only time i have to force a shift is when i downshift into 2nd over 25 or first moving at all, the tranny really prefers to be shifted very softly and slowly, im beginning to think its not a problem but just the nature of the unit, the only time i get any clashing is when i downshift into first (i think its only happend 2-3 times since ive owned it) and im moving.
the only other real funny thing ive noticed is the shifter vibrates only in third while im accelerating
-Sam

 

i have the downshifting into first problem. i dumped Royal Purple Syncromax in it this summer and, although it didnt help the first gear problem, the tranny shifts smoother and slicker.

 

My '98 is doing the same thing. I had just presumed that the syncros were wearing out....

 

mine was the same, hard to get into 1st, then 2nd was difficult, noticed when i downshifted into 2nd the lever would vibrate. finnally i was accelerating in 2nd and about 2,500 rpm it just let loose and 2nd became a neatral postion. pulled tranny after ordering a rebuilt one (at 1,170 prepaid) found syncros binding up, and the first gear on the input shaft just inside the case galled up. oil level wasnt low, hasnt been used hard or pulled anything. dont understand why. my '88 with the same gearbox went 203,000 with no troubles. this one had only 80,000 miles. hope the rebuilt unit has better syncros. also ordered a new hydraulic slave cyl/throwout bearing assy (60) may get a clutch disc if not too much, pressure plate should be fine. got a lot of broken bolts to deal with, mainly manifold studs. took 2 days to get it apart. at least its not heavy and you dont need a tranny jack. dont know what oil i should put back in. had wal-mart mercon-V in the last one for over a year before it died. if it had just been overdrive id lost i would have lived with it like a normal 4spd and not worried about it, hard to live without 2nd, and who knows, could have lost more forward gears later on. fun truck to drive, not much fun to work on!

 

80000... be happy i just hit 46k and my tranny is aweful and its only one of my complaints in a very long list, my first concern is trying to figure out my cold start chirp and faint knocking till warm.
-Sam

 

try royal purple syncromax