Difficulty shifting into first gear

[olddog]

Originally Posted by SBSerpent

One thing that I should note is that just prior to this occurrence, I had adjusted the clevis on the master cylinder plunger rod to where it connects to the clutch pedal - bringing the pedal closer to the firewall. I will re-adjust it back to where it was before this issue popped up and see if that resolves the problem.

Have you corrected the pedal adjustment yet?

You have shortened the stroke of the pedal. Most likely you no longer have enough stroke to fully disengage the clutch.

It isn't rocket science. You changed the stroke of the clutch pedal and just after that the problem showed up out of the blue. What's the odds that some other random thing just happened to happen at the same time and caused your problem????

Don't take this wrong, but.... Hey it's your time and dime so go ahead and change as many other things as you wish. I suggest trying at least a dozen other things. That always makes the troubleshooting so much easier, when you goof up a couple more items and make the problem worse.... Sometimes when you look at it from an extreme position, it makes the point much clearer.

Good Luck

[SBSerpent]

Originally Posted by olddog

Have you corrected the pedal adjustment yet?

You have shortened the stroke of the pedal. Most likely you no longer have enough stroke to fully disengage the clutch.

It isn't rocket science. You changed the stroke of the clutch pedal and just after that the problem showed up out of the blue. What's the odds that some other random thing just happened to happen at the same time and caused your problem????

Don't take this wrong, but.... Hey it's your time and dime so go ahead and change as many other things as you wish. I suggest trying at least a dozen other things. That always makes the troubleshooting so much easier, when you goof up a couple more items and make the problem worse.... Sometimes when you look at it from an extreme position, it makes the point much clearer.

Good Luck

I agree with you wholeheartedly! I'm a 'process of elimination' person who picks the 'low hanging fruit' first. In this case, as you noted, it is pretty obvious as to what happened here.

Yes, I have re-adjusted the stroke on the pedal to where it was previously. In fact, what I also discovered was that when I did the initial adjustment, I forgot to re-tighten the locking nut such that the pushrod was able to spin freely while driving. I don't know for sure that it turned substantially to reduce the stroke even more, but when I looked at the position of the clutch pedal relative to the brake pedal, it did appear even closer to the firewall than I remember after doing my initial adjustment.

Like I said, readjusted it but have yet to take it out for a test drive.

I will be changing the tranny fluid since I feel its a good idea after 12 years of use....and it's more 'low hanging fruit' and good maintenance practice. I just ordered the Tremec HP-MTF.