The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline question on t5 transmission

good morning to all
i recently purchased a 38 canopy, the motor is a 235, with a t5 trans off a 1985 s10 and a clutch from a astro mini van. we were able to fire up the motor but the car will not go into gear when the car is running. it grinds into bottom gears but will not actually go into the gears. the car will go into gears when the car is off. any ideas? i already adjusted the pedal and linkage and its fully open to when i press the clutch pedal the throw out bearing pushed the diaphragm on the clutch,

already added fluid into tranny
perhaps a bigger throw out bearing? this way it can push the clutch diaphragm?
any ideas?

There are 2 sizes of T/O bearings, a long and a short. You may have a short one where you need a long one. Has the previous owner experienced the same problems after the build or is this your build?

Hy oldmemoriescc, did you check to see if the clutch disc can be turned when the clutch pedal is depressed, the disc could be stuck to the pressure plate or the flywheel, hope that helps.

Your clutch disc could be stuck, but here is another thought: I am using a T5 from an Astro / Safari van and an 11 inch flywheel and clutch. The Astro van clutch was much smaller in diameter and naturally had the proper spline, but that clutch and pressure plate used the short throwout bearing. I used the short throwout bearing in mine. The longer one will not fit...or at least it would not fit in mine. Then I learned the linkage was too long to allow for proper adjustment. If you look at yours and if the adj nut is almost all the way to the end, you have the same situation. So what I had to do was make a new clutch connecting rod. From 5/16" rod I copied this:
http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p535/JonGoodman/IMG_8524.jpg
but made it about 3/4" to an inch shorter and that gave me all the room I needed. You can see it here but not very well. Bending it was not much fun:
http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p535/JonGoodman/IMG_8522.jpg

Good luck!
Jon

Could the end of the input shaft where it goes into the pilot bearing be too long?

I may have misread, but you gotta assume the T5 conversion worked at one time which should rule out a problem with wrong parts or the input shaft. So what's left, my vote is clutch disk is rust stuck to the flywheel. To fix that, chain the back of the truck to tree or put the front bumper (at the frame bolt so as not to bend the bumper) then WHILE DEPRESSING the clutch, try and start it in gear. The clutch should slip and break free. If the brakes are in great shape then they may be able to hold the vehicle, negating the need to tie it down of use the bumper. If you go this route, procede at your own risk of course!

Good Luck, RonR

Things to test.
Get rear tires off the ground with jack stands. Put tranny in neutral and depress clutch pedal. Start engine. If rear wheels spin forcefully, then the input shaft pilot tip is binding in the pilot bushing.

Shut engine off. With tranny in neutral, and clutch pedal depressed, ask someone to try to turn the rear wheels by hand (truck still on jack stands). If turning is nearly impossible, or you feel the engine crank/pistons moving - again confirms the pilot tip is binding.