When I bought the car, the trans was grinding badly in all gears, and was not drivable. I noticed metal in the oil when I drained it. So, I disassembled it further, and noticed from the GM manual that a flat needle-thrust bearing on the input shaft was missing.

I figured that's where the metal pieces were from, so I got a new needle bearing along with new teflon tabs that go on the internal shift forks (since I found one broken one also).

All the synchros are brass, and they seemed to look OK, so I didn't touch them. I did notice that there seems to be a little side-to-side play from the input shaft, but I installed it back in the car anyway.

Both times it popped out of 2nd, I was letting out on the clutch, and I heard a loud -BAM!!-, and the shifter d**mn near hit the dash. Almost like it wasn't fully engaged. It likes to grind a bit also when the tranny is cold, but improves after it's warm.

I wrote to a tranny shop, and they say that it's a clutch fork problem.



It looked fine to me.....It does grind every once in a while going into 2nd gear, and it "Popped" out of 2nd twice, but how's my clutch fork affect that??

 

Popping out of a gear means it needs that synchro sleeve. If it's second gear, it needs the 1-2 sleeve. Replacing it requires complete disassembly of the trans.

Clutch fork will not cause a trans to pop out of gear. It can cause grinding by not fully disengaging the clutch. Usually grinding into gear is not a trans problem but rather the symptom of a clutch problem, unless it's one gear only and all other gears work right.

 

Thanks RB - That's what I thought. And yes, it only wants to grind and pop out in 2nd gear. All other gears seem fine.

Kinda funny though - It's a website that has been recommended by others on this board, but I won't give their name here.

I was going to purchase a rebuild kit from these guys too, but they talked me out of it. They stuck with the clutch fork problem and told me a kit wouldn't fix it.

I guess they make so much money they don't need mine. And I described the problem the same to them as I've written here.
Just my luck.....