5 speed wont go into 1st gear

[7milesout]

toothless gears or something like that.

Seems like if 1st gear (or any gear) were toothless, the shifter would move into 1st gear position. But either nothing, or some weird or maybe light grinding would happen whenst the clutch was engaged or in the process of engaging.

[Eggman]

EDIT: I'm back! My problem was an adjustment issue. Shifting normally again.

Love them easy fixes.

But now you gotta wonder why the clutch adjustment changed. Do you have your spare cable at the ready? Is there any evidence the cable is pulling loose from the ferrule at either end?

Edit: never mind, I see you've already addressed this in another post.

[MetroMPG]

Yup, I've driven it a couple of times and shifting is back to normal after the adjustment.

I do wonder if the cable stretched/is getting ready to fail. I ordered a backup & will swap it soon-ish.

[7milesout]

Have you been over-slipulating your clutch ... wearing it back some?

[MetroMPG]

I'm pretty anti-over-slipulation in general. Very gentle.

[MetroMPG]

Yup, I've driven it a couple of times and shifting is back to normal after the adjustment.

I do wonder if the cable stretched/is getting ready to fail.

Spoke too soon. Drove it yesterday and by the end of the drive, it's very difficult to shift into gear with the engine OFF.

I'll try a little more adjustment today.

[7milesout]

Metro - If'n your gear teefs are lined up all whopper-jawed (when off), it ain'ta gonna be easy to get into gear (when stopped). I don't think I'd let a hard shift when off sway my overall opinion. If it shifts well when the engine is going round-n-round, I think you're good. My $0.02. Let me know if I should be expecting change back.

[Wallythacker]

@ dustyb


What you describe is exactly what happens with any manual if the gears are not switched correctly!

When changing gear, you hold the gearstick with thumb and two fingers. You start moving the lever slowly towards where the next gear is with ever so little pressure, and then wait! Yes wait, for a second or so until the gear plops in by itself. Don't let the shape of the knob fool you into applying force.
Should you use any force at all, the synchro rings will suffer wear, and gears will become more and more difficult to engage time after time!

If you yank the gears race car style, the synchro rings will be worn out in no time.


What can you do now after the synchro rings have become worn?

1.) Put thinner fully-synthetic gearbox oil in. You have Redline or Rowe brand GL4 75W or 75W/80. Thats perfect.
2.) Learn how to change gears properly!
Doing both points above, you might get by without further repairs. It will certainly help some, but If that fails to help enough, either:

Replace the transmission ($$$!!!)
- or -
Replace the synchro rings ($$)

No matter what you do from there on, let the gears simply plop in by themselves, and most important, don't apply any force on the lever!




Just in case, you could also check the clutch. See:

Attachment 20787

So what you're saying is not to reef on the shifter like Hercules when shifting from 1->2 @6500RPM, without using the clutch.


The very few times I've played Schui the car shifted fine through all the gears @redline and no clutch. It's a little *****y to downshift w/o clutch but a blip of the gas fixes it.

I'm trying to imagine how damage would result since the synchros won't move unless the RPM aligns the next gear in the chain.

[klroger]

I'm trying to imagine how damage would result since the synchros won't move unless the RPM aligns the next gear in the chain.

The syncros are like a little brake that slows the rotating assy down so the speed is the same on both parts so the shift collar can engage. The syncros don't move, they just match the speed of the shift collar. Here's a quick vid to kinda show it.https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...tail&FORM=VIRE And yes, quickly jamming & forcing shifts will wear the syncros & cause grinding & hard shifts...

[Wallythacker]

The syncros are like a little brake that slows the rotating assy down so the speed is the same on both parts so the shift collar can engage. The syncros don't move, they just match the speed of the shift collar. Here's a quick vid to kinda show it.https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...tail&FORM=VIRE And yes, quickly jamming & forcing shifts will wear the syncros & cause grinding & hard shifts...

Makes sense but what causes me to pause is my Dad drove a cement mixer for ages. When he taught me to drive it the clutch was only used to start out and do full stops. They had 20 year old mixers in the yard with nary a tranny failure.

And....what brand summer yard equipment, bar honda, is reliable and parts are available? I think that's your trade?