Manual Transmission - Issues shifting into 1st & Reverse (Compilation thread)

[andrei]

woa woa woa.... what is that tube you have there?
I dont have that tube and hole in bell housing where your hose goes is blocked with a plug.

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[SadRobot]

woa woa woa.... what is that tube you have there?
I dont have that tube and hole in bell housing where your hose goes is blocked with a plug.

Oh that's not part of the transmission. My whole engine bay is torn apart right now so that tube ended up hanging down. At the moment I can't remember what it goes to.

 

[andrei]

I also have ACT, but there are just as many who are complaining about CenterForce. One guy ditched his SouthBend after just 400 miles (and they copied OEM). One guy had McLeod fail its hydraulic throw out almost immediately.

Do they all suck? Doubt it. Something about the JL setup makes this all too complicated. Cable shifter, shared master cylinder, dry lube, no pilot, etc. This shit was figured out 80 years ago! Ugh.

What I can’t find is data on CF’s newish hydraulic throw out solution. I hate the idea of that failing and leaking inside the bell housing, but am intrigued by the idea of completely redoing the hydraulics.

This sucks. I’ve had my Jeep 7 years and it’s in awesome shape with low mileage. Loaded with options it was “only” $44k back in 2018. I realllly don’t want to pay today’s prices for something else, and realllly don’t want an automatic.

I’d invest another $2-3k for the latest CF solution *if* I had confidence it’d solve the issues, but I don’t.

There is nothing complicated to it. You might not have the answers, but there is no reason to depicture a rocket science out of nothing and prematurely block yourself from finding a cause.
Cable shifters are welcomed compare to levers, they work, but obviously a direct connection is preferred.

The thing is, something many fail to grasp, there are only a select few manufacturers that ACTUALLY MAKE SOMETHING FROM NOTHING. Most of what you see is others taking parts from those select few, and turn them into a product that we all buy.
I would not be surprised if ACT, CENTER, whoever, are sourcing core components from a single manufacturer. As a result, they are all have THE SAME flaw in them, because they are all roll on the same conveyor, cut and stamped by the same machine.

What i want is simply a heavy flywheel, that is it, i am okay with OEM dual clutches, triple clutches, burning clutches, just give me a heavy mass flywheel. Unfortunately that is not an option, according to my google-fu.

 

[azjl#3]

Hate to pile on, my first jeep an 85 Cherokee, was traded for a Big Bronco because dealer could never get clutch to work right, and slave bled down inside firewall messing up electronics.

 

[SadRobot]

Here's a better picture of the bell housing after I cleaned it up and that tube isn't in the way. Also ignore that 2x6 that at the time was holding up the transmission.

 

[andrei]

Swooping in for another round of breaking in my new keyboard:

Tried cable adjustments, no bueno. Ended up playing a game of what i prefer more, difficult 1st or difficult 3rd. At least gears were engaging, and just as i started to think there might be a positive outcome from this procedure, 1st gear hit the wall again and refused to engage. I was back to fishing which gear would be kind enough to cooperate and get me back home.

At this point i am defeated. The only logical option forward is to go back to OEM and proceed from there. At this point, not knowing what is wrong is a path deeper into a rabbit hole. It could be clutch, it could be cables, could be hydraulics, faulty transmission or aliens... I hope its aliens, let them have it , because i am not bleeding hydraulics that is for certain.

Transmission has to be dropped again, there is no way around it, switching to dry lube made everything 127% worse. Alternatively, maybe the hydraulics got worse after 2nd removal, and they indeed need to be bled?
If i proceed to stay with ACT, the mystery that we all experience remains unsolved.
Transmission service message on my dash is still on and i don't want to think about it.
Tomorrow is Friday, so that is cool i guess.

 

[gek]

Swooping in for another round of breaking in my new keyboard:

Tried cable adjustments, no bueno. Ended up playing a game of what i prefer more, difficult 1st or difficult 3rd. At least gears were engaging, and just as i started to think there might be a positive outcome from this procedure, 1st gear hit the wall again and refused to engage. I was back to fishing which gear would be kind enough to cooperate and get me back home.

At this point i am defeated. The only logical option forward is to go back to OEM and proceed from there. At this point, not knowing what is wrong is a path deeper into a rabbit hole. It could be clutch, it could be cables, could be hydraulics, faulty transmission or aliens... I hope its aliens, let them have it , because i am not bleeding hydraulics that is for certain.

Transmission has to be dropped again, there is no way around it, switching to dry lube made everything 127% worse. Alternatively, maybe the hydraulics got worse after 2nd removal, and they indeed need to be bled?
If i proceed to stay with ACT, the mystery that we all experience remains unsolved.
Transmission service message on my dash is still on and i don't want to think about it.
Tomorrow is Friday, so that is cool i guess.

Service Transmission light will likely stay on. Stored in EEPROM iirc. Have to reset at dealer or use tazer/jscan.

 

[BHank0688]

Swooping in for another round of breaking in my new keyboard:

Tried cable adjustments, no bueno. Ended up playing a game of what i prefer more, difficult 1st or difficult 3rd. At least gears were engaging, and just as i started to think there might be a positive outcome from this procedure, 1st gear hit the wall again and refused to engage. I was back to fishing which gear would be kind enough to cooperate and get me back home.

At this point i am defeated. The only logical option forward is to go back to OEM and proceed from there. At this point, not knowing what is wrong is a path deeper into a rabbit hole. It could be clutch, it could be cables, could be hydraulics, faulty transmission or aliens... I hope its aliens, let them have it , because i am not bleeding hydraulics that is for certain.

Transmission has to be dropped again, there is no way around it, switching to dry lube made everything 127% worse. Alternatively, maybe the hydraulics got worse after 2nd removal, and they indeed need to be bled?
If i proceed to stay with ACT, the mystery that we all experience remains unsolved.
Transmission service message on my dash is still on and i don't want to think about it.
Tomorrow is Friday, so that is cool i guess.

Why not try and bleed the hydraulics just to see if any improvement or not? It is a pain compared to bleeding some other clutch hydraulics , but not impossible and not that bad to do. Take some beers out there and it’ll be done in no time.

 

[AVGeek99]

Here's a better picture of the bell housing after I cleaned it up and that tube isn't in the way. Also ignore that 2x6 that at the time was holding up the transmission.

I thought you were trying out some home made wooden skid plates.

 

[SadRobot]

I thought you were trying out some home made wooden skid plates.

Or like that episode of One Car Too Far where they break the axle shaft and use a log instead of a wheel to get off the mountain.

 

[andrei]

Why not try and bleed the hydraulics just to see if any improvement or not? It is a pain compared to bleeding some other clutch hydraulics , but not impossible and not that bad to do. Take some beers out there and it’ll be done in no time.

Complete, no change.
Performed twice, manually by working with a slave and later with vacuum pump. Ran two bottles through the system, watched that tube like a hawk, smooth flow, no bubbles.

1st, 2nd, 3rd hit the wall, 4th allows engagement and from there i can get into all gears freely. Clutch release and it is back to square one. No change.

 

[SadRobot]

Reporting back in after firing up the Jeep for the first time in 2 months. Shifting smooth as butter!

 

[BHank0688]

Complete, no change.
Performed twice, manually by working with a slave and later with vacuum pump. Ran two bottles through the system, watched that tube like a hawk, smooth flow, no bubbles.

1st, 2nd, 3rd hit the wall, 4th allows engagement and from there i can get into all gears freely. Clutch release and it is back to square one. No change.

Complete, no change.
Performed twice, manually by working with a slave and later with vacuum pump. Ran two bottles through the system, watched that tube like a hawk, smooth flow, no bubbles.

1st, 2nd, 3rd hit the wall, 4th allows engagement and from there i can get into all gears freely. Clutch release and it is back to square one. No change.

Have you tried to force it into gear from a stop when it hits a wall in first? Just curious if it will try and creep/ drive forward with clutch pedal pushed in. Though I don’t have lockout, yet anyhow, my first press of the clutch the jeep will just move forward maybe an inch while halfway into whatever gear. Only does this the first press of the clutch. If I never release the clutch I can switch to whatever gear and zero movement. Almost seems I have the same issue just not as bad yet/ no lockouts. It seems like the disc isn’t releasing properly, but why?

 

[Jeremynolan94]

I've had an ACT JP6 in my Jeep for the last 15,000 miles or so and am beginning to experience difficulty getting into 1st gear. It's only been over the past 2 days or so that I've noticed it, and only when the car is warmed up. I've got a 3,000 mile road trip coming up in July so I'm somewhat nervous the issue will only get worse. If it does in the next few days I may just schedule the recall and put this behind me. The ACT has always been creaky and I don't really have the funds or time to drop the transmission to take a look.

Is there any consensus on the cause? Wrong lube used during installation? My clutch was installed at the same spot as @SadRobot so that could very well be the case.

 

[gek]

I've had an ACT JP6 in my Jeep for the last 15,000 miles or so and am beginning to experience difficulty getting into 1st gear. It's only been over the past 2 days or so that I've noticed it, and only when the car is warmed up. I've got a 3,000 mile road trip coming up in July so I'm somewhat nervous the issue will only get worse. If it does in the next few days I may just schedule the recall and put this behind me. The ACT has always been creaky and I don't really have the funds or time to drop the transmission to take a look.

Is there any consensus on the cause? Wrong lube used during installation? My clutch was installed at the same spot as @SadRobot so that could very well be the case.

Wrong lube was part of her issue at first, but she also had a bad slave iirc.

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