Sometimes hard to shift into 1st & 2nd gear

[Ranger1987]

I just bought a 1987 Ford Ranger shortbed (2.0; manual), and I'm having trouble shifting it into first and second gears at times. Sometimes, it slips right in, but other times, it takes awhile (eventually it's always gone into gear).

A few times, I've just shut off the motor, which allows it to easily go into first gear, and then restarted it.

Third and fourth gear seem to work fine at all times - it's just first and second, and only some of the time is it difficult.

I'm not mechanically-inclined (read: clueless at auto repair). Advise, please?

 

[RangerX]

It's your slave cylinder/throwout bearing, parts of the clutch. You'll need to drop the trans to get to it, and it's recommended to do the clutch itself while you're in there.

If you search for clutch and slave, you should find lots of threads.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Ranger1987]

It's your slave cylinder/throwout bearing, parts of the clutch. You'll need to drop the trans to get to it, and it's recommended to do the clutch itself while you're in there.

If you search for clutch and slave, you should find lots of threads.

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the welcome! Great forum!

Are you pretty confident that it is my slave/throwout bearing in the clutch? I've been reading threads with those search terms (as you suggested).

The reason I ask, is that I had engine problems with an '88 Ranger, and when it appeared the fix was over my head, I agreed to sell it to someone who wanted it for the transmission and bought an almost identical Ranger (except it's an '87). The guy wants the '88 but I'm hesitating since I discovered this shifting problem.

Will I need the clutch, or the slave/throwout? Or, are these fixable without keeping the parts on the truck I"m selling? Should I keep the transmission? (the transmission and clutch always worked perfectly in the '88). My dilemna is that he's buying the whole vehicle for the transmission, but if I keep the tranny, I might have to sell the truck for salvage, possibly.

Am I safe to go ahead and sell the '88 with it's tranny & clutch, you think? (he calls every day for it).

Thanks!!

 

[RangerX]

Tell him about the shifting issue, if he still wants, it, write "As Is" on the receipt, and he's happy and you'r covered.

 

[Ranger1987]

Tell him about the shifting issue, if he still wants, it, write "As Is" on the receipt, and he's happy and you'r covered.

The shifting issue is on the '87 that I'm keeping, because it runs. The transmission/clutch on the '88 has always worked perfectly (the motor doesn't), and that's the truck he's wanting to buy.

Considering the misbehavior in the truck I'm keeping, I was asking if I should not sell the good transmission after all - if the repairs might require parts from the good one or a complete swap.

 

[RangerX]

Oh, gotcha. I would not reuse any clutch parts from the other truck. If you're going through all the trouble of dropping the trans (or paying to have it done), you don't want a old and used part in there that could fail in a couple thousand miles.

Stick with new parts when dealing with a clutch, and not parts store clutch parts. I recommend dialaclutch.com. I've used them for clutch kits on two of my trucks now, and would use them again.