bent shift fork, how do you know?
 

what signs should one be on the look out for when it comes to bent shift fork. how do you know when you start or have a problem with your shift fork.

Most of the time the problem will manifest itself with trouble shifting into a particular gear, or the transmission popping out of a gear during acelleration. I recently saw one that the driver was unable to get into third gear at all, when diaassembled, the fork was mangled due to a missed shift.

hmmmm. There are times that first gear pops out from a dead stop. it feels that first gear is fully engaged but apparently not. it doesnt happen all the time. all the other gears appear to be fine. could this be a sign or just lack of me making sure its fully engaged.

In my case, it would pop out of second once in a while, then it started sticking in 4th -- couldn't go up or down until I shut it down for a few minutes. Very exciting at the track. EB'02Z.

I've done the same thing a few times. It's just a case of not having first gear fully engaged. There's a slight notchiness when going into first, and sometimes it feels like it's in but it's only half in ... the "bang" ... it pops out of first gear when the clutch is starting to engage.

Just make sure you're all the way into first gear ... it's not a shift fork issue.

:iagree: After I put the C6 shifter in the car, problem was gone entirely. I never do that anymore.

I knew mine had a problem when it stuck in fourth and wouldn't come out. Limping it back home in fourth was not fun :eek:

that's good to hear. I have a short throw shifter (MTI six shooter) recently installed and thought it took care of the problem until recently. It "POP" out from 1st gear. I understand the slight notchiness feeling and tend to forget about it. I guess I have to discipline myself and remember to make sure its fully engaged. I didnt think it was a shift fork issue since there are no other issues in the other gears. thanks for the info, made me feel better.

not to laugh, but it reminds me of my mother and her sister years ago. They went to Lake Tahoe in a old 70's Vega stick shift. My aunt was the only one who knew how to drive a stick. My mother took over driving since my aunt was too tired to drive. My mother had no idea what gear she was in but kept in that gear until she pulled up in the driveway at home. My aunt woke up and had no clue but was impressed my mother was able to drive a stick shift for 5 hrs. Needless to say, the Vega had some repairs needed.

The first gear thing is normal. The only fix I've found is to slide into 2nd, then 1st. It simply isn't going all the way into first.

That works for me. I also try to select 1st gear while rolling.

both this and shifting into 2nd then 1st seems to do the trick for me as well.

If you shift into first while still rolling, you save some wear and tear on the synchro's, but you are putting more wear on the throw-out bearing while sitting waiting for the light to change.

My experience is that the throw-out will go bad long before a synchro, and you'll end up spending big $ on labor to replace a $30 part.

I never sit with my foot on the clutch for just that reason.

I thought if your clutch is fully depressed its ok while sitting. are you saying its not. I can understand if your just resting your foot on the clutch where it causes problems.

:bigears
curious about this as well I'm not sure if I have throw out bearing issues or not and that was a bad habit of mine when I 1st got the car was haveing it in gear for along time with clutch in waiting for the light to change..........:willy: .........a practice that I no longer do but may be too late........:bigears

:iagree: BTW if you saw how beefy the 1-2 shift fork is compared to 3-4 you'd understand that it is pretty much impossible to bend the 1-2 fork. Shifting into 1st when stopped is not hard on the syncros at all (unless of course you're revving the engine while doing it) :rofl:

It's not that it's not ok, it just that any time your foot is on the clutch pedal, lightly or fully depressed, the throwout bearing is spinning at engine RPM. It's just a sealed bearing, so the longer it runs the hotter it gets (and it already lives in a hot place by the clutch). Sooner or later it's going to fail. The less time it spends spinning the longer it will last. To replace it, you have to drop the rear suspension, trans/diff, and torque tube.

First gear synchro get little hard use unless you like downshifting into first while still moving relatively fast. Just putting it into first while sitting at a light is no big deal, because the relative shaft speeds are low. A well taken care of tranny will outlast a throwout bearing almost every time.

Wow!! thanks for the good info. guess that's another bad habit to break.

I knew my forks were toast when I was at the strip, and after a quarter mile run my tranny was stuck in 4th gear, would not budge in any direction. Carefully drove her home, and ordered a new tranny from RPM to eliminate this problem in the future.

Mine locked in 4th and wouldn't come out. I'm short enough that i slid my seat back and knudged the shifter with my heel... that got it out of fourth but then I heard sounds i never want to hear again. Drove it home. Drove it to mechanic for full trans rebuild the next day.