91 Ranger hard to shift

[CAnderson1015]

I just bought a 91 ranger with the 5 speed manual. I’m nowhere near a transmission expert so I need some help! It is hard to shit into 1st 3rd and 5th it also grinds when it goes into reverse. My clutch pedal has very little throw in it. So do I have a transmission issue or a clutch issue? Any help is welcome!

 

[scotts90ranger]

what do you mean very little throw in the clutch pedal? The pedal pad should travel like 10 inches, the clutch SHOULD disengage within 2-3 inches of it's resting position. If it grinds it is not disengaging and is probably your source of issue. If the pedal has very little resistance to get it to the floor there is air in the system, first thing I would do is check the fluid, reservoir is by the drivers side hood hinge, take off the cap then take out the black diaphragm and check the level, sometimes there's a fill line on the reservoir. If the pedal is hard and barely moves there's definitely something wrong with the clutch hydraulics, there's a recent thread similar to this a few down, look through that there's some good advice on changing the master cylinder and bleeding, I'm not typing that up again right now .

If the clutch pedal is almost at the floor and barely moves, I would suspect the master cylinder

 

[scotts90ranger]

The thread I was mentioning was THIS

 

[CAnderson1015]

Thank you for the advice! The clutch doesn’t have much resistance and the fluid is full. Should I bleed the system?

 

[scotts90ranger]

I would, start with my simple method of just putting the pedal down all the way and slipping your foot off a handfull of times, these clutches are a pain in the rear to bleed, this although sounding stupid works surprisingly well...

 

[RonD]

Yes, bleed the system

If its hard to get into 1st when stopped or Reverse grinds(it is synchro'ed) then its a Clutch issue for sure

When you are stopped the transmission's RPMs are 0, there is no disconnect, wheel, axle, driveshaft, transmission are always connected
Engine idle is 700RPMs so Clutch is spinning at 700RPMs
When you press down clutch pedal its suppose to release the clutch disc so it can SLOW DOWN to 0 RPMs
You can only put transmission into 1st, or Reverse, when clutch disc is at 0RPMs when stopped

(shut engine off, so its now at 0 RPMs as well, and try to put trans into 1st, if its easy then clutch is the issue)

If clutch disc is rubbing on flywheel or pressure plate, which always spin at engine RPMs(700) then clutch disc can't slow down easily

Air in the clutch system means pressure plate doesn't release ALL its "pressure" so clutch disc rubs