I thinks its time to tackle the grinding problem in my transmission. Its a 91 Wrangler 2.5 ltr 5 speed.

My trouble is....shifting up from 2nd-3rd...3rd-4rth...4rth-5th it grinds. If I allow a slight pause between shifts I can manage a shift without any grinding. Been getting away with this for 3 years now on my daily driver but decided its time to do something with it before my son starts driving it. I can never downshift into any gear without grinding some.

So tonight I made sure there was no air in the slave cylinder. The slave cylinder is coupled to the throw out bearing as one unit. I have never had what I concider any stiffness in the pedal. With the reservior cap off...and my son pressing the clutch pedal....shouldnt I be able to see the fluid level decrease....and after releasing the pedal....fluid returning....just like a brake master cylinder? The only firmness I notice is the spring on the pedal.

So now I'm thinking I may have a bad clutch master cyclinder, or bad slave cylinder....causing the clutch to not disengage properly? You think I still might have bad synchro's?

What is with the plastic bands on the slave cylinder.....the instructions state that they are designed to break during the bleeding process....and once broken clutch cant be removed without destroying the slave cylinder? I take it that means each time I seperate this transmission that I'll have to replace the slave cylinder? The reason I ask....I dont think the shop that replaced just the transmission in my Mazda...replaced the slave cylinder and I notice it doesnt seem to shift right either. Replaced that transmission for almost $3000 my cost. I'm thinking I might need to replace the slave in it too?

Thanks...any help will be appreciated.

Dave G

Had a similar problem in my '92 Ranger 5-spd, the throwout bearing is coupled to the slave cylinder. I finally got under there and pulled the trans to replace this monstrosity and seal up the rubber plugs in the case that had dried up, shrunk and leaked fluid all over the place.

The Ranger slave cylinder was known to be problematic, I tried bleeding it a couple of times but no change. My syncros would actually prevent me from getting into any forward gear with the old slave cylinder, grinding only when going into reverse. Replacing the slave improved things significantly (been 2 years now) and I can get it into gear quickly after flooring the clutch pedal & no more grinding putting it into reverse.

I wouldn't expect to see the fluid level change as you depress the pedal, only if you were bleeding it at the time - otherwise the system should be sealed and not consume fluid with pedal movement.

It seems that there is so little release movement in the slave that any air in the system or degradation of either cylinder causes this trouble. I found info on it on a Ranger forum, perhaps the Jeep guys know about this one too.

Thanks so much. It make sense. I too think something isnt right with slave/throw out and/or clutch master combination. I bled the system thoroughly and I'm positive there isnt any air in the system.

Dave G