almost a new truck

[truckd01]

I have a 1990 Ford Ranger XLT 2.9 V6 efi 5 spd Man Trans with only 40,000 orig miles, the truck has been sitting for a few yrs hence the low miles, my problem is that it's hard to put into 1st gear every other gear is fine and the clutch is up working fine, no leaks and the truck is basically new and runs like it too except for 1st gear, research on this web site suggests that it is the the Slave Cylinder and new clutch and pressure plate should be installed at this time as well as the slave cylinder is internal.
I need answers!! is there any one out there that knows this truck and especially what kind of trans is in it ??????????????????????

 

[pcollins]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/ManualTransmission.html

Clicky^^^. Every ranger has an internal slave cylinder.

 

[truckd01]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/ManualTransmission.html

Clicky^^^. Every ranger has an internal slave cylinder.

Not to be a smart @$$ but what exactly does that tell me about the problem I'm having and how to fix it??

 

[CHKNFKR]

You asked what kind of trans you have. He provided the info for you.

 

[truckd01]

You asked what kind of trans you have. He provided the info for you.

So basically what is in the truck is either 1 of 3 trans to choose from
1.Mitsubishi FM132
2.Mitsubishi FM146
3. Mazada M50 D-R1
I appericate any and all help but just to familiarize you all with me, I'm not an auto Mechanic and don't know my way around the Mechanicals that well, I'm trying to figure this out and not to successfully I might add, again very hard to get into 1st gear, all other gears are fine,clutch is up as the day it was sold, I have searched through 20 pages on this forum and couldn't find any threads concerning similar issues can anyone go into deatail about these issues that knows about these trucks and common problems with them??????????

 

[RavoHimself]

Has the problem been there since you got it or is it a new problem? In pretty much every manual tranny. First gear is always a little harder. How hard is it to shift? Like you have to force it or you need to wiggle it a bit before it pops in? Ive found two methods to help making shifting to first easier. Either rock it into second before going into first. This helps align the gears. The other method which is good for stop signs, is as youre slowing down, about under 10 mph, hold pressure on first until it clicks in. ita easier to shift first when youre rolling a bit

 

[truckd01]

At a dead stop you have to force it into 1st gear pretty hard, not normal, no problem going into 1st at a slow roll, comming from 2nd to first at a stop light works, leaving it in gear at a stop light works but thats a lot of time to leave the clutch in, shifting into and out of other gears is no problem and at 40,000 orig miles I want to fix the problem but also need to know what the problem is first, this truck is 21 yrs old but still brand new parked in the garage in 2004, started occassionally but never taken out of gear until about 2- months ago, put in a new battery, plugs then drove it down to get it smogged,passed it right off, then re-registered it, only driven 160 miles since sart up, painted the int of house for trade + $1000.oo in my pocket, previous owner 94 yrs old and can no longer drive