Slips out of 1st

Once under load it doesn’t pop out? Sounds like my car, mine started when I put a new boot on, which is much stiffer than the old ripped up one, now there is pressure on the shifter when not under load and the boot pulls the shifter out of first. Not saying that’s the problem you’re having, but it’s something to check.

DynaBro said:

getting 1-2 and 2-3 to shift was easy, but then R would be inaccessible.

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Spitballing here, are the rods correct?
I had one with the wrong reverse rod cause this same issue, and another were the 3/4 rod was wrong.

I can't stress it enough, because it's very easy to check.
Pull the shifter rods and arms set the arms back on the gearshift levers by hand and twist back and forth.

If the arms rotate before the gearshift levers, even a little, it causes problems.

I've had multiple trans were this was the issue, the first one I bought a new shifter first and wasted hundreds.

It's good to use the kiss principle first.

Arms are all correct. The R arm has a lot of play on the adjuster end but that's not the issue. Otherwise everything is pretty tight. The boot is loose enough that that's not involved. I think it just needs a rebuild.

Just thought I would update this. I got all the arms and everything synched up nice and it did not fix the issue, which initially was a lack of grab when in gear. I still have to hold the shifter forward in first until I get moving. Which sucks. A lot. But it sure slides into gear a lot smoother than before.

First off, I am not a manual transmission expert, so this is more of a question than a statement:

Synchronizers help you get a transmission into a gear - my understanding is they do nothing once it is in a gear. I've heard that if a manual transmission pops out of gear, it could be linkage (rods) or simply that the gears themselves are worn.

I'm happy to understand better if the above is not correct...

HawkRod said:

I've heard that if a manual transmission pops out of gear, it could be linkage (rods) or simply that the gears themselves are worn.

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Or the gearshift levers are worn and the arm turns before it moves the gearshift lever.

matthon said:

Or the gearshift levers are worn and the arm turns before it moves the gearshift lever.

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Shifting looks pretty solid from underneath to me.

I had an old school hurst 30 years ago and it worked great, and then one day it was not great as I could not get it to come out of R unless I moved it to the absolute max. This was on a Ford Top Loader, so R was up and to the left, then 1-4 were an H pattern like normal right next to it. It got to where I had to pull it down out of R to where I almost felt like something may have gotten bent.
It was the shifter itself, I was worried the transmission was going bad, but I ordered a full rebuild kit and as I took things apart I came to realize the bushings for the rods, the rods themselves, and even the holes in the plates everything attaches to all had a little wear that added up to enough to screw it all up.
So it shifted great 1-4 But it was worn enough it ended up not working anymore after while for R.

I replaced everything that I could with the kit- rods, bushings, and it worked well enough but it still had a tiny bit of play. Never went further into it because I sold the car a while after.
In my case, everything looked "OK" but was worn just enough to not work. It does not take much! It can seem like things have to move a long way because the shift handle moves so far but really the actual linkage is not moving that far so a small amount of slop can add up.

DynaBro said:

Just thought I would update this. I got all the arms and everything synched up nice and it did not fix the issue, which initially was a lack of grab when in gear. I still have to hold the shifter forward in first until I get moving. Which sucks. A lot. But it sure slides into gear a lot smoother than before.

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If I understand it’s kicking out as you engage the clutch, but after you are moving it stays in gear. That’s kind of different from the more usual kicking out of gear under light throttle or coasting. Not sure what it points to. Holding pressure on the gear shift would keep the brass synchronizer locked to the gear which may be enough to keep it from kicking back but once released the slider and gear seem to be holding. I wonder if this could point to maybe an overly worn pilot bushing or excessive bell housing runout? You might want to give Brewers a call and see if you can discuss it with one of their transmission builders.