Transmission grinding

[Revtor]

Hello all, I am posting this over at G&R as well, I want to get as many opinions as possible.

My gearbox is dragging a bit, when im at a standstill and try to engage first or reverse, (Yes, with my clutch in) the transmission grinds a bit until whatever shaft/gear that is spinning in there comes to rest and can engage with the rest of the transmission. I have tried engaging third first then going to first, but it doesn't help.

I removed an odd spacer plate that was between the slave and the mounting tower (that I have not found in any parts source/book)and have been slowly lengthening the pushrod to make sure I am getting a full disengagement, and it has not helped. I installed a new slave, soft line and hard line recently to update my system and there seem to be no problems with the new parts (no leaks, everything fits well etc) I put new oil in the tranny yesterday. Tomorrow AM I will bleed the system again.


So in YOUR truck, can you (say, at a stoplight) engage first without it grinding?

thanks for any thoughts on my little predicament here.

~Steve

[SafeAirOne]

I imagine that if you replaced the master cylinder, you'd have mentioned, but the master might not be pushing enough fluid for whatever reason. That or there might be lots of slop in the Rube Goldberg contraption you pre-Series 3 folks use to transfer movement from the slave to the throwout. I seem to remember there being a thread on that quite a while ago--I think TeriAnn was the one who explained what to look for as far as worn busings on the Goldberg contraption goes.

The only other things that come immediately to mind is air in the hydraulics and the pilot bushing being messed up causing the input shaft to drag along with the flywheel.

[I Leak Oil]

No problem with 2nd through 4th? If not it's probably not the clutch. Stranger things have happened though.

[Revtor]

At a standstill, if I try to engage 2nd, the grinding will occur as with 1st and reverse. 3rd and 4th, no grinding. (synchros at work)

[Alk-3]

this exact thing happened to me. a few things to try first : start the truck, and put the transmission into neutral, and let out the clutch, now push the clutch in all the way and try to place it into first.. this is when the grinding occurs right?
what happens if you repeat the above, but wait a solid slow 5- count before trying to shift into first?
how about after you get it into first (even if it grinds to get it there) then take the transmission out of first, and after a second or two try to place it back into first, all while holding the clutch to the floor?
if it grinds no matter which method you use, then it could be a bunch of things:
here is what I went through:
first, I fussed with the slave, master etc and replaced them both, bled them, and I also removed that plate you said you could not find in any literature. that spacer plate is supposed to be there, and I had to replace it in the end.
The clutch pushrod also can be adjusted as per the manual, and left alone if it is within specs. I fussed with this a lot, and managed to get it to work nucely for two or three shifts before it self levelled and the problem returned.
The next thing I did was replaced the whole pedal assembly, because the bearing surface of the pivot point was worn, and was a bit sloppy. this too did not solve my problem. I checked for play throughout the whole system and made sure is was all tight replacing word out items as I went.
In the end, I finally took it into a clutch shop nearby, and they replaced the clutch for me. It's a big job, and I had been wrestling with it for months, and just wanted to pass it on to someone else. They replaced the clutch, and it's worked flawlessly since.

The problem ended up being that the clutch was actually crushed flat, and so even with everything working properly, the clutch was not fully releasing.
when the clutch guys gave the truck back to me, they said it might behave in a similar manner for a short while just during the break in period while the seals and gaskets setup, or loosened up, but in fact it has never been a problem again.
I'm sure this is not really what you would like to hear, but it's what happened in my case.

As a side note, if you remove the tunnel, and the whole gear shift assembly, there is an inspection plate in top of the bell housing you can look in to see if it's dragging or not. I'm not sure how much you can really see, but someone else might have more insight there.