Hey just bought a 94 nissan hardbody with a new engine and transmission with 60k on it. replaced the clutch and all its parts as well as a new clutch hydrolic system. bled the system and still grinds when i try to put it in gear. will start in neutral but grinds when i try to put it into first and just wont go into any other gear. when i put it in gear i cant start it. slave cylinder fully extends under load. can push the fork when truck is on and i can shift it and i only have to move it about 1/2 an inch. iv been searching forums and i came across one that said it could be a bent fork? just ordered the part from nissan but any other ideas? wat could bend a fork anyways those things are pretty beast already.
Please help iv been stuck without a vehicle for about a month and im dreading having to pull out the trans again.

Synchros may be going bad.
They align the gears to mesh properly.

Synchros may be going bad.
They align the gears to mesh properly.

Sounds like the clutch is not fully working if you cannot start in gear, sounds like for what ever reason the clutch is not fully being pushed in, if the clutch is not fully engaging it will not crank in gear but will in nuetral.

You might consider carefully removing the boot between the bell housing and the clutch,and do a visual inspection to determine if the fork is fully engaging & disengaging or if it is bent. IT is also possible the fork came out of the correct position during the assembly process. What was the reason for replacing the transmission & clutch????? Something rare but it does occur,the clutch disc is the wrong application,or it can be the correct disc but it is the wrong thickness which can occur during the re manufacturing process.

ok so i replaced the fork..btw it wasnt just bent it was broken, there was a crack in it. Iv driven it around for a lil while now but still have a few problems. like its hard or grinds going into first gear everytime except for the first time..really weird. every other gear shifts smoothly.

and non clutch related..it drives fine up until about 50 mph and then it gets pretty shaky.like not normal vibrations but it feels like my rear tire is hitting a bump every 5 seconds.

Is the clutch hydraulic system bled properly? It can be a PITA to get all the air out of it.

Did you check the pilot bushing? If it is not cleaned up and a bit of grease put on the end of the input shaft, it won't stop and you won't get it into gear. Another thing to check is that it has the steel throw out bearing sleeve. The plastic one will hang on the shaft and not release the clutch completely.

yes iv bleed it multiple times and no bubbles are coming out. and no i didnt. they guy i bought it from replaced the whole clutch and clutch hydrolics. i ended up replacing everything because they were all the wrong sizes. ms was too short and throwout bearing sleeve was to short.
im picking up a new clutch kit tom and dropping the tranny again so it would be nice to know what to look for while its out so i dont screw it up and have to do it again. thanks

ok so i was on my way home from buying the clutch kit and something strange happened. i did something and i shifted into gear without grinding. i got home and started playing around with it and it turns out, if i went over, down like going into second then up into first it didnt grind. the second i went over and up like normal it grinded. wtf could cause this...synchros?

If it was the synchros, you can bet that they didn't grow more material and heal themselves. And, to be honest, I am finding it hard to say exactly what is going on--believe me, I tried.

thanks. now u know my pain. something so small can change something so big. its beyond me

Someone mentioned the pilot bushing in an above post, have you checked that?

You also mentioned (if I read your post correctly) how when you shifted down into second and then to first-gear it did not grind, but DID grind when you went directly for first. I don't know exactly what model truck you have, but with my 4wd (4.63 axles) first-gear is 3.92 and likes to be below 11mph before going in, and almost to a complete stop if the transmission is cold. In fact, much of the time with rolling starts, I don't even bother with first-gear because it's a PITA. Two-wheel-drives have taller 3.2 first-gear ratios, and taller axle gearing, so the shift points will be respectively higher.

Also, and I am only 50% sure on this, is that FS5W71C's do not have synchronized first-gears. Someone, please correct me if I am wrong about that one.

Speed Rpm, and synchro comes to mind. If your speed or RPM are to high this MAY result in grinding. You may want to drain some lube out of the transmission,and if you find brass or metal filings this would indicate a transmission issue. There is gear lube on the market that is not brass synchro friendly. Its also possible the clutch rod on the Master clutch cylinder is out of adjustment,this would cause the clutch not to fully engage and disengage. I had that happen when I changed the master clutch on my 1997 hardbody. Something rare but it can happen,over the years the rubber hoses deteriorate. Check the hose going to the slave cylinder to ensure there is not a restriction going on.

I would have to agree with whomadewho about the rod adjustment. Especially since you said previous owner used wrong parts. Had a Mazda pick-up in the shop that did the exact same thing after we replaced clutch,master and slave. Adjusted rod length between pedal and master, and lo and behold perfect shifts!!!

silver_spy21 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:01 pm

thanks. now u know my pain. something so small can change something so big. its beyond me

11 years later, Did you every fix the issue? I have it now