Clutch issues !

[Bearcat96]

I had bought a 96' 2.3L manual, 4 days ago as a early birthday present, and as of driving it home an hour away, I found I had no forth gear (I shift into forth and it spits the shifter out of gear if I don't hold it in place hard.) and the amount of slop in the shifter is crazy, I ordered the shifter repair kit.

the clutch as well grabs when it's the pedal is all the way out, maybe a 2/3rd's inch of play, making it difficult to drive for me to use (ham string kills me). is there ANY way to adjust when the clutch bites later?

 

[pentode]

Sounds like you might have more than one issue going on. Does it shift into and stay in all the other gears? Or is it hard to get into all gears? If you're lucky it's just the slop in the shifter mechanism and it's just not going all the way into gear. Otherwise you might have a bad synchronizer or shift fork.

I don't think there's an adjustment on that hydraulic clutch but I'll defer to guys on here who know the M5OD better than I do, I haven't seen one in a while. I don't think it would be a fluid level thing or a bubble, it sounds to me like you might have a worn clutch but again let's see what others have to say about that part.

Edit: worn clutch might be exacerbating the shifting into/staying in gear problem too.

 

[scotts90ranger]

These clutches are supposed to engage at the top of the throw near the pedal resting point, ideally they'll do that from day one until they start slipping, there's no adjustment on that. The pedal shouldn't be particularly stiff though, maybe play with the seat adjustment to get a more comfortable angle for your leg...

I kinda sounds like you might have a broken pin on the shifter but there might be an issue with a shift fork in the transmission if someone before you was in 4th a lot and kept their arm on the shifter. I'll hope for your sake it's just a pin which is easy but I'm trying to remember if a shift fork can be changed by just taking the top plate off...