1995 4x4 Ranger Hard To Get Into Gears

[DDavisIAMT]

I just bought a 1995 4x4 4.0L 5 speed Ranger, manual T-case. The previous owner put in a new clutch, slave cylinder, and pilot bearing, but it isn't shifting smoothly into gears, you kind of have to force it into gear. At a stop, going directly into reverse it grinds. If I jump it over to 4th then to reverse, it goes in just fine. On downshifts, if I rev match the engine it falls into gear easily. When sitting still, clutch pedal pressed down, you can feel it bump forward as I try and put it into 1st gear. The clutch pedal feels fine, not spongy at all, full motion. Any thoughts as to what this could be?

 

[RonD]

Welcome to TRS

You need to Bleed the clutch system, common issue with Rangers, you have some air in the system so clutch disc is still rubbing on flywheel and pressure plate, so its not fully disengaging.

Your description matches air in the clutch system exactly

The transmission can not be disconnected from the rear wheels(well you could shift transfer case to N, lol)
So when you are stopped the transmission is at 0 RPMs
Engine is at, say 750 RPMs, idle
So when you want to put it into 1st, or any gear, you have to get the Clutch disc/input shaft from 750 RPMs down to 0 RPMs

When you press down on clutch pedal fluid flows from master to slave and slave expands which pushes on the pressure plate springs which pulls it back, away from flywheel
Clutch disc is sandwiched in between flywheel and pressure plate
Pulling back pressure plate should allow clutch disc to slow down to 0 RPMs, but if it doesn't pull back enough then clutch disc can't slow down to 0 RPMs, air in the system means slave won't/can't expand all the way.

Transmission has synchro mesh on each gear, its a softer metal that matches input shaft RPMs to Output shaft RPMs as you push shifter into a gear, but................this relies on input shaft being free to slow down or speed up to match output shaft RPMs, synchro gear is 5" in diameter and clutch disc is 10", so if clutch disc is rubbing it WILL take a bit of pressure to force the 5" gear to slow down the 10" disc, just physics
So the whole setup relies on the Clutch disc being fully disengaged

You may want to replace the master if it wasn't done with the new clutch, in any case the master sits at a 30deg angle so it can get air trapped at the top if system ever "ran dry", reservoir was empty, you can't bleed this out unless you pull out the master.
Pulling out the master is not hard, and then you can turn it upside down and then bleed system fully to get any air out of the Master

 

[DDavisIAMT]

Ron, thanks for the reply. I saw a good video on YouTube last night which detailed the bleed issue. I don't think the master was replaced when they did the clutch, I believe only the slave cylinder was. Hopefully this cures my problem. I will also be replacing the fluid with something other than the ATF called for, something like a syncromesh fluid or something from Amsoil/Lucas. Thanks again for your help!

 

[RonD]

Clutch uses Brake fluid

But yes, the M5OD-R1 manual transmission does use ATF