[decooney]

This may or may not be related, however it was for me....

Do you have a Lakewood or other type aftermarket scattershield/bellhousing? Is it also hard to get it into reverse when hot? If yes to both of these, the next question is did you or someone align your bellhousing using the required procedure?

I chased a very similar problem arround for over two years, sort of gave up for a while, and then came back to it again later. Turned out to be a bellhousing alignment issue that would only show up when everything started getting warm. Input shaft was draging on the pilot pushing which kept it spinning enough to make it very difficult to get into gear at a stop. Followed the procedure, verified it a few times before reinstalling. Works like butter shifting now.

I learned the hard way those "procedures" are put in the installation documents for a reason. Now this step is on my critical list for every future install.