'99 6 spd dying???

[tbogh]

recently my 6 speed has been giving me problems. first of all when i am at a complete stop, it is really tough to get into first gear of reverse, but no grinding. the next issue is that when i am at a complete stop and with the clutch to the floor, when i try to put it in first it slightly engages and wants to move without me actually putting it into gear. and it is almost as hard to shift up or down as it is to get into gear from stop, i really have to apply steady force for it to finally get in. what worries me is that all of this happens with no grinding, so i think it could be something really serious. any help would be greatly appreciated, it gets worse everyday so it won't be too long before its not drivable.

thanks,
travis

[00strker]

if u are having trouble goin into forward grab reverse then go to first or vise versa it will go right in after that

[tbogh]

thats what i did this last week or so. but now i can't even do that. it is really hard to get into any gear at a stop, every now and then i can cycle through the gears at a stop, then slip into first or reverse, whichever i need. i asked someone today about it, and they said something about the slave cylinder, does that fit my problem? thanks for the advice.

travis

[Broncoguy]

A friend of mine had those same symptoms and it turned out to be a cracked clutch release fork. Its a pretty common problem with the early 6 speeds. It cracks at the pivot point and bends. This causes the pressure plate to only partially disengauge and makes it hard as hell to get into gear. Once it goes into gear, it will try to move because the clutch isn't totally released.

Make sure your clutch fluid reservoir is full to rule it out. If it is, pull the slave cylinder and/or the inspection plate on the tranny and have a look at the clutch fork. My guess is it's bent or broken. If that's the case, a new fork should do the trick.

[tbogh]

yep, reservoir is full. i'll take a peak in the inspection cover tomorrow, and let you know, hopefully its just a fork. thanks for the input.

travis

edit: if i do need a fork, does it matter where i get it from? would one from napa be enough?

[metallitera]

Originally Posted by tbogh

would one from napa be enough?

long as it has a lifetime warranty, don't matter where its from

[tbogh]

got 'er all fixed up today. went to ford and paid a steep $225 for a master/slave cylinder unit. it came pre bled so it was a piece of cake to install, now it shifts like new.