Manual Transmition

I've noticed that shifting has become more difficult over time. Sometimes I have to release the clutch and engage it again before it will shift smoothly. Second, third and reverse give me the most trouble. Is is a clutch issue, fly wheel, etc...?

 

Have you tried asking Manuel nicely to shift your gears? I'm sure Manuel would be much happier manually shifting gears if he got a "please" and "thank you" every now and then.

 

Skipping the opportunities for a 'truck made in Mexico' and 'radio' jokes here by biting my tongue............

Is the master full of fluid?

Miles on the vehicle?

Lots of city driving/clutch riding or hwy miles?

When was the trans last serviced?

My guess, before knowing any relevant info, is that a fluid change and a clutch slave repair/rebuild/replace, along with a proper bleed of course, will cure the issue.

 

Thanks Clearwater Bill.

Fluid is good.

196,000 miles

Mix of city and highway driving.

Transmission was serviced when I bought the truck about 60,000 miles ago.

 

Well at that mileage it is highly likely the slave is bypassing internally and not moving the fork enough to properly disengage the clutch. While it could be the clutch itself is about done at that mileage, you'll be more likely to experience that through slippage and feel rather than shifting.

If rapid pumping of the clutch helps this situation, if it works better on a cold start than after being on the road a bit, that also indicates slave.

Maybe we can see if @gearcruncher has any additional thoughts on this.

 

The manual transmission should last you forever so it's probably a clutch slave cylinder issue

 

This would be the first thing that I would replace. If that didn't cure the problem I would replace the clutch MC. If that didn't cure the problem I would .....

 

i swapped slave and master on my truck + redline MT fluid and it made a big difference. Start with the easy stuff before going big

 

For the too fast or too slow readers among us, just to be clear, he means the Redline in the trans, not in the system for the master/slave. That takes brake fluid.

Just for general info,

$34 Ford XT-M5-QS Full Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid - 1 Quart , black

Ford XT-M5-QS is an outstanding GL4 trans fluid, and can be bought OTC at Ford dealers. It's an SVO product, so smaller dealers may have to order it in. And it's not cheap, although it's not that much more than the boutique fluids people favor.

It's made huge improvements on many a notchy shifter in many marquee gearboxes in the autox/HPDE world, including mine. And 50k OCIs are reasonable, even in a moderately heavy racing application.

 

If you're having to double clutch to get a smooth shift then you're probably looking at a worn out clutch...esp if you're still on the original one at 196k miles.

 

Good looking out! That was poorly written on my part hah.