slips out of first gear when clutch is in

[shambug]

Just started sliping out of first gear when I start to release the clutch.

[irowiki]

Have you flushed the transmission?

Drain it, fill it with 50/50 cheap ATF and gear lube, drive it about 50 miles, on the highway, but be easy on it. Drain that out, refill with gear lube, see if that helps!

[xirdneh]

does it slip out quietly or with a bang?

[Petros]

usually that means the bearings in the gear cluster is worn and sloppy, causing it to pop out of gear when you put power to it. If that is the case it needs new bearings in the trans.

But as Iriowiki shared, many have found flushing out the sludge and build-up with ATF will sometimes fix it.

good luck.

[irowiki]

My 81 (which I have since sold) used to pop out of either 1st or 2nd when going down a hill. After the flush, that went away!

[shambug]

I will try the atf flush. It slips out with a bang. If I baby the clutch it doesnt slip. Holding the gear shift in gear does not help. After its in gear it doesnt slip. only 1st gear slips. Can start in 2nd without slip. I guess i should start saving up though. Does anyone have a used transmission they want to sell.

[marlinh]

If the bearings are worn out, how does flushing it fix the problem?

[xirdneh]

If the bearings are worn out, how does flushing it fix the problem?

flushing would only fix something other than a bad bearing

a bad front bearing on the output shaft will cause this problem

[Petros]

I do not know what changes to fix it doing an AFT flush, but more than a few forum members have found it works sometimes. I suspect there is something else that causes it to pop out besides a bad bearing. Like perhaps the detent ball and spring are gummed up and do not hold it in place, and the AFT frees it up, preventing it from poping out. Or perhaps sludge build up does not allow it to engage all the way so it pops out as soon as you put load on it, AFT cleans it out and allows full engagement.

Flushing will do nothing for worn out and sloppy main shaft bearings. The sloppy output shaft bearing is so sloppy that it allows the gear cluster to shift forward, pushing it out of gear, than there is nothing that will fix it other than to replace the bearing. And if that is the case, likely there are a lot of other parts than need to be replaced too.

So not likely it fixes the bearing, but cleans out sludge that causes it to act the same way.

[shambug]

Sad to report the flush did not work

[marlinh]

I believe sometimes other members have had to repeat the flush a few times to get all the gum out.

[Petros]

you can always add a bungee cord to the shift lever to hold it in place. if the bearing is already shot, you will not harm it anymore.

[xirdneh]

if you drive till the bearing breaks apart there will be little hope of ever fixing that tranny
there is a chance that something else could cause the problem, like a real bad shift fork but if that were the case 2nd gear should be doing something also.
if your lucky one or two detents (those three small things for the synchros) could have popped out but there again you should have 2nd gear problems too.
so i am going with the bearing
if you have any mechanical skills i would say to remove the tranny and take it apart per youtube videos
if you remove tranny only (leave bell housing in) yout should be able to see if the front bearings are bad
at worst you will only need to take tranny halfway apart to see if bearing is bad
front bearings are available

[shambug]

I did skim your videos before, they look quite intense. I will none the less be giving it a good try. I can say that there is a bearing noise when transmission is in nutral and clutch is let out but not with clutch in. It is to soft a noise to tell if it is also there when in gear.
There was a 4wd tercel with a working trany near where I live for $200 not to long ago. That might be the way I go with this.
Could you give me a basic list of tools needed to replace the bearing. I know I dont have a bearing puller as long as the one in your videos.
I know theres no way for you to say for sure but would there be any aditional warning before the transmission blows up? It would be very helpfull to be able to drive to the autoparts store instead of bike.
Would avoiding 1st gear do anything?

[Petros]

go ahead and drive it, go very easy on it and you should be okay. Usually it will get much worse, popping out of other gears as well. Most people keep driving when it developed this kind of problem, the damage to the bearing is already done, if you go easy on it it should not wear much more. You could add a quart of synthetic gear oil, or some kind of graphite additive to the trans, this should prevent further wear (unless it is already grinding itself away. but it is a matter of time before it goes out). Just do not drive it any more than you have to, and go easy on it. No hard accelerations in lower gears, and try and avoid steep hill climbs.