diff gone?

[noob]

Hi

I am really surprised after buying my 1995 aspire/festiva
that the diff went, it only had 68 000 on the clock.
So they replaced the gearbox with a recon one
although now i am finding it hard to change
from 1st to 2nd and then down to 2nd, in fact
i think its just 2nd.

Since this is the first festiva I have had is this common?
Is there any idea of what I should do?
Any comments are appricated.
I have this issue with my 1975 morris but i wouldnt
think with a 1995 ford.

Thanks

[bhazard]

Make sure it has the correct oil in it. It takes atf, not gear oil.

[iceracerdude]

It sounds like the syncro between 1st and 2nd may be shot, or at least the 2nd gear blocking ring on it. There are two of each gears, arranged opposite each other on two different shafts, the input, and output. These gears are in constant mesh together but free spinning, with the exception of the reverse gears. There are 3 syncros between them with 5 blocking rings, no syncro for reverse however. For some reason the engineers visualize us being completely motionless when selecting reverse!...go figure. So when you select gears to use (1-5) you're actually sliding one of 3 syncros over and it's job is to first stop the loose gear from free spining and then lock together the particular 2 gears you've choosen. You may be able to get away with replacing just the 2nd gear blocking ring on the 1-2 syncronizer, and I believe these can still be purchased new. The entire trans needs to be disassembled to replace snycro's or their individual component$. There is a remote possibility the clutch is not adjusted properly (not completely disengaging) but the symtoms of that would show for all gears, not just 2nd gear transactions.