Shifting issues

Hello all,
I bought a 98 tacoma 2.4l 2wd xtra cab manual transmission last weekend and I love it. The thing is that the transmission is unusually hard to shift without a little bit of grinding. I have driven manual transmissions for 17 years now and never had this many issues getting used to a new one. I started out shifting by pressing the clutch all the way in and still got a gear tap on 3rd and a nice grind on 4th. Then a friend suggested I press the clutch half way (which is hard to remember to do) and it helped a little, but I can't even drive a couple of miles without grinding in 3rd or 4th. I have driven cars and trucks with bad clutches and messed up transmissions and never had one where i have to use strategy to be able to shift. It's very rare to have a nice clean set of shifts up to 5th when i am driving. I have tried let off the gas and waiting a few seconds then shifting(normally ill let off the gas and depress the clutch at the same time.) The clutch was replaced with an LCE one a few 1000 miles ago, the clutch pedal is nice and tight with about 1/2" free play at the top, and if it may help anyone with diagnosing the pedal is a little higher up than the brake pedal is that normal? I love the truck and I would just love to be able to drive it without shouting choice words when it grinds for no apparent reason. Is there anything that I can do to fix this issue? Thanks.

 

First of all, welcome to TW!

You covered about every question I was going to ask. The problem may not be the pedal at all. Maybe your syncros are bad? I am kind of at a loss.

 

Roger that I will have to give that a try. Then I'll go from there. Thanks for the welcome.

 

That was a no go, very little air came out and didn't make a difference on driving. I noticed the boot on the slave was rather ragged and the fluid was very dark. And slimy looking, might pick up a slave, and also some royal purple for the transmission and gear box. Oh btw is bleeding the clutch done with the engine running or off I had it off cause I thought that's how you do brakes. Thanks