Hard getting into 1st gear without grinding??

Hi
I just had my clutch and transmission overhauled on my 1963 CJ5
The throw out bearing on the clutch was changed as well as the clutch pack (and all fluids drained and replaced).

There is no synchro-mess so I know I have to be completely stopped before attempting to put it into 1st.
The clutch cable seems to be adjusted well as it appears to engage with minimal travel.

Prior to overhauling the clutch, I used to grind occasionally but was able to find a sweet spot; as the engine revs came down I could pop it into 1st without grinding.

Now , it is almost impossible to find a sweet spot and I crunch into gear almost every time. very frustrating , especially for the folks behind me at a stop sign. I would say 3 out of 5 times I end up grinding.
I f there is a line of cars behind me I now try and take off in 2nd by riding the clutch a bit.

No problems going from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 2nd.

Any thoughts ?
Is it just a matter time of seating in the throw out bearing?
I have probably only done 10 miles with the new clutch and bearing.

Thanks
Fred

 

Interesting...if I understand correctly......
I should come to a stop, then put into 2nd and then into 1st.
By putting it into second it should align the gears appropriately so when I do put it into first it should go in smoothly?

thx

 

It sounds like common sense, I should have thought of it before...

Thank you!!

I will let you know if it corrects my problem

Fred

 

Just thinking out load here. I'm guessing the reason for the grinding into 1st is that the input shaft in the trans is turning. Could be due to the pilot bearing being a bit tight. Might also be due to the new, thicker clutch disc and pressure plate. Maybe even the throwout bearing? Or a combo of all of the above.

Anyway, I would guess that as all these parts wear in the problem would somewhat go away.

I like to think of putting it into 2nd before going to 1st as stopping the rotation of the input shaft rather than making it "align the gears appropriately".

 

Would double clutching work in this case?

 

probably because the bushing/bearing in the fly wheel is tight on the tranny shaft causing it to keep trying to spin the tranny. did they change it also? if so it should wear in

 

Not really--- Double clutching keeps innerds moving --- Thats not what you want here (stopping) gear movement is the issue.

 

Thanks guys. I always wondered what the reason for double clutching was. And now I too know how to shift a non syncro'd first tranny.

 

Sorry to repeat - but I thought maybe this wasn't clear. You would double clutch when you need to downshift into a non-synchro gear while moving. It's a method to speed-match the meshing gears. There's not often a need to downshift into 1st while moving on a CJ; if you are rolling at all, you don't need 1st... 2nd will be fine.

You can double clutch when upshifting on a non-synchro transmission too, but usually it's not needed. Instead you pick your shift points so that the gears don't clash. Takes practice.

When you are at a stop, you still want to speed-match the meshing gears, but the speed you need is full stop. This is when shifting into 2nd before 1st works. Basically you are using the 2nd gear synchro to bring everything to a stop... works for reverse too!

 

Just wanted to follow-up.
The going into 2nd then 1st worked like a charm.

No more grinding...
Stopping , 2nd then 1st is a fairly easy shifting routine to get the hang of and can be executed quite quickly.

thanks
Fred

 

After all my research on this topic... I think I have your answer. My Jeep did the same thing. Finally my tranny went out, so I had it rebuilt and it still did it. It's not a matter of double clutching. What you should try if you don't do this already is hold the clutch in for a full 5 seconds before pulling it into first. So at a light or stop sign, hold the clutch in for a bit before shifting into 1st. hopefully this helps