Picked up a "good used" trans from an 83 and put it in my 80 Toyota. Well first gear doesn't work. Has anybody ever had a shifter buhing so bad that it wouldn't go into gear. I know that's a long shot, maybe just wishful thinking.

 

I have had that problem on some transmissions they will not go into first gear if the vehicle is moving and sometimes when it was stopped.

Wear on the bearings can cause this then some transmissions don`t have a synchronizer for first gear. Been a good many years I don`t remember just which ones.

Once moving it shifts fine in the other gears ??

It has been a few years but if I recall I shifted into reverse then into first but never took my foot of the clutch..

It was not the shifter bushing always good to go with the easy first

 

It's not a "when it's moving" problem. Sitting idle, clutch works fine, it feels like it goes into first (recognizable H pattern), but when i take my foot off the clutch first isn't there. It makes a light kinda rattling sound. It's almost like I didn't push the shifter far enough into the first position.
The cup bushing on the bottom of the shifter has a decent amount of wear on the inside of it. The other round bushing looks decent, I didn't wanna pull it outta there though until I had a replacement in hand. Kinda afraid that if I started pulling it outta there that it would fall apart and leave my truck parked over the weekend.

 

Any feedback on whether or not shifter bushing failure can lead to not being able to get into certain gears?

Fifth gear is a little noisey too. Sounds like a straight cut gear.