"Chunky" 6MT shifting?

[Ryan...]

I'm experiencing some intermittent "rough" shifting in my 6MT Gladiator. I did a trans fluid change with OEM fluids around 30k miles, and then swapped that fluid with Redline fluids (appropriate spec), which briefly helped the issue as well, but now at 40k it's back basically how it was. PS, there was no metal/metallic stuff in the fluids when I swapped it. Fluid was still very clean looking.

I want to describe the 1-2 shift as "crunchy", but there isn't any grinding, it's just really chunky feeling, like you can feel the lever physically moving between two gears/synchros etc.

Sometimes it's perfectly smooth, but then halfway through my drive (after the fluid has had plenty of time to heat up) it gets chunky feeling again. I'll occasionally feel it between other gears, say 3rd or 4th (never felt it in 5/6th)..

It happens going both up and down the gears. Does that sound like a hydraulic issue? Synchros on the way out? Maybe cables? Ideally I'd like to have an idea what's happening before I drop it off at the dealer, especially now that I'm out of warranty.

My truck was at the dealer for some steering issues and they drove it for 10-15 miles and nothing was said about the shifter, I really just assumed this was how these things drove. So many people say these are the smoothest shifting vehicles they've driven, and at times I see how that could be true, but I'm assuming I've got something funky going on.

I should mention, I've owned/driven 20+ manual vehicles in the past 17 years, and this feels unique in terms of symptoms.


And here's the truck just because I like looking at it:

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[Flyboy2109]

My Jeep isn't sweet shifting as my 90's Hondas were. But it shifts way better than my 2004 Cad CTS-V with a TREMEC 6, way better. I disliked the shift so much I took it to my dealer and said, "This thing is really notchy, especially 1-2." HIs answer was to call his buddy at the Chevy dealership and set me up to drive the 2004 Vette. Dang, same. That's just the TREMEC tranny's personality, built to beat up on the track. I cannot imagine the people who raced this car professionally put up with that-no speed shift there. I eventually pulled the '04 TREMEC and put in a 2007. It was a mild improvement.

My '90 Dakota, 3.9 V6 with a MT5 shifts a lot better than the Jeep.

 

[JTDay]

I believe you can adjust the cables for the shifter. I think Centerforce has a video on this. My Mazda was the same way after installing a short shifter and I adjusted the cables to fix it.

 

[Ryan...]

Not sure if this will help with a diagnosis or not, because I fear it's my synchros..

Got into the truck today, turned off.

Pushed lever into 1st, very clunky feeling, didn't force it.
Pushed lever into 2nd, very clunky feeling

Double clutched and it went smoothly into 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc...

Does that say anything or is that something that happens with all manual vehicles? I've never tried it before so it could be nothing lol

 

[Ryan...]

And now that I think about it, powertrain warranty should be 5yr/100k.

I'll go have a chat with the service dept and see what they have to say about it

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