Hello All,

My question today is about ideas that might help with reducing the grinding of a gear. In may case, It's third gear. I know the long term is to get a better trans, a CD09 as recommended. But, for now, as I save my little pennies, I'm looking for anything that also seems to help. Here is what I have done so far to throw at the issue before putting the trans back in. 1 - steel braided slave cylinder hose. 2 - new slave cylinder itself 3- A fancier fluid in the trans like RedLine 4 -????
So as I was thinking ... I wondered if the shift plate, if misaligned, could be inhibiting the throw of the shift and so it doesn't engage/disengage properly. It seems like the grinding happened less when I was very slowly shifting into the gear, which is what made me think better/fresh fluid, firmer line for better fluid transfer, new fluids all around, and new parts might be part of the issue. But I thought I would ask if there was anything else.

 

Only thing that will help is trying to rev-match your shifts better. This is easier to to at lower rpms.

Or you could just skip 3rd gear, take 2nd gear up to 30mph+ then go straight to 4th, nothing wrong with skipping a gear.

You can also try not pulling so hard into 3rd, just put a little pressure on the shifter for a split second and delay pulling straight into 3rd. This will give the worn synchro a little more time to get up to the right rpm.

Knowing EXACTLY what fluid you used would help too. For worn synchros I usually recommend Redline MT85. (Actually I recommend it regardless of wear but it's pretty magical for worn synchros)

 

Great tips. And pertaining to the fluid, I am switching it out to Redline Mt85 once I bolt it back up. I don't know what the previous owner had in there.

 

Even on a fresh CD009/A the gears will start to feel a little grabby with about 30k miles on the gear oil so fresh oil makes a HUGE difference.