Terrible Shifting Transmissions

US Army M817 Dump Truck:

To the OP: What's wrong with the Xterra trans?

Aside from the somewhat long throw, mine shifted beautifully, just like my 6spd Maxima or any other Nissan 6spd. Taught girlfriend how to drive stick in it, no issues there either. Needed a clutch after 175k miles of on/off road driving. You sure you don't have an issue???? My other car was a miata...

Tyler H wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: VW beetles (the real ones) have been accused of having bad shifting transmissions, but the three I owned or drove a lot were fine. Easiest manual cars I've ever driven.

They've all shifted better than any Porsche 915 transmission I've ever driven.

My experience as well

It's at 134k and is at the end of the fluid life so that may be all it is, but I've seen lots of complaints online about first and third being hard to shift into, especially downward. It even grinds occasionally trying for 3rd.

I just dropped $90 on OEM Nissan fluid as there seems to be a high percentage of people claiming issues improve after changing back to OEM stuff and I don't know what was used last.

Crackers wrote: It's at 134k and is at the end of the fluid life so that may be all it is, but I've seen lots of complaints online about first and third being hard to shift into, especially downward. It even grinds occasionally trying for 3rd. I just dropped $90 on OEM Nissan fluid as there seems to be a high percentage of people claiming issues improve after changing back to OEM stuff and I don't know what was used last.

I ran redline stuff in mine... yes 1st was hard to shift into at speed (what trans isnt with 130k?) but most people also don't have the faintest idea on how to double clutch. I always do so I could easily get it back into 1st no matter what speed.

Mid 80's f250 My '69 Bug

For newer cars, both SRT4's I've owned (one brand new, one bought with 30k easy miles on it) had lousy shifting transmissions.

I learned how to drive stick shift on an '81 Datsun 210 where it felt like the shifter gates were made of rotten bananas. But the worst had to be the time I test drove a '71 Ford pickup with a very worn out three on the tree shifter. The only way to tell for certain if you'd put it into second or reverse was to let the clutch out very slowly.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Six speed Celicas and such, with about a millimeter betwwen gates. First? Third? Fifth? Who knows. Jam it in and watch the tach.

Called a Toyota C60. It's the same box used in S2 Elise/Exiges. What's worse than the gates being dangerously close together in general is reverse being next to 1st with no lockout collar. Going into reverse is just like going into 1st except you put a bit more leftward pressure on the stick. So guess which gear you're getting if you're in any kind of hurry.

Worst I've driven? Some little Kia hatch from the late '90s/early 2000s, but I'm not sure if it was in good shape. It had a problem where if you pulled the stick straight back from the center position, you had a 50/50 chance of getting 2nd or 4th. When I found that out I was coming down from 5th, good thing it wasn't at high revs. You had to apply pressure to the left or right to select 2nd or 4th with any certainty.