Transmission troubleshoot hour

Few problems with my tranny. Just bought this 1990 SC, which I am loving, yet the shifting issues are driving me nuts. I currently am avoiding third gear because of the immense grinding. I figured this was a synchro issue. However, today my reverse started acting up. A few times, I thought it was in, didn't go anywhere. Popped it out, and back in, started to work, then popped out of gear. After a few more tries I got it to stick. Wondering what this could be? Thanks for the help.

3rd gear is definately a synchro (extremely common) and the reverse issue sounds to me like a bent shift fork or shaft... that can happen if, say, you park the car on hill in reverse and try to pop it out w/o using the clutch. I only know this b/c it happened to me a while back in my Ranger (very similar trans)


I'm no expert, but i'm just speaking from what i've experienced.

The whole tranny needs to be gone thru. You could have multiple problems. Hopefully you'll be able to locate all the parts you need but only a thorough inspection will determine what.

Thanks for the help guys. Going to try and find a spot around me here in Texas to inspect it. I like doing my own work, but am not experienced in trannys. . so I would prolly have him inspect and then do the work myself once I knew what was wrong.