Can’t get into any gear

Hello, I recently bought a 95 GT and have been having a problem occasionally where only when I’m not moving (like at a stop light or stop sign) it will not let me into gear with the clutch pedal all the way to the floor, I can force it into gear if I push hard enough and it won’t grind but it is an extreme amount of force needed to the point of where it feels like I might break my shifter. My pedal is “mushy” all the way until it’s basically on the floor and even then it takes minimal effort when at the bite point
I thought it might be the clutch cable adjusted incorrectly because it was a bbk adjustable cable so I just changed it out with a stock ford cable but while installing the only way to get the cable onto the fork once it was placed into the stock quadrant was to hold up on the pedal to give me enough slack to get the clutch fork end in. After all of this I can no longer get it into gear at all. Would it likely be that I had to somewhat force the clutch cable to fit by holding up on the pedal?
I’m about 85% sure it’s not the tranny because supposedly it was rebuilt and while testing and shifting clutchless all of the synchros seem fine and when using the clutch when it works it had no slippage or anything. Anyone have any ideas I should check for next ?
 
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It's not the transmission. Clutch is probably shot. Once it gets all wobbly, it will do that.

Kurt
That’s what I was thinking too, I’ve just never had a clutch that doesn’t slip but does that. The only other thing I would think of is the tob because if I started it in gear with clutch to the floor it would still lurch toward as if I was starting it clutchless in gear

thank you for all the help with my random problems Kurt !
 
That’s what I was thinking too, I’ve just never had a clutch that doesn’t slip but does that. The only other thing I would think of is the tob because if I started it in gear with clutch to the floor it would still lurch toward as if I was starting it clutchless in gear

thank you for all the help with my random problems Kurt !

Yeah, that's definitely a clutch problem. You're going to have to pull that transmission and see what's going on in there.

Kurt
 
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I'd suggest (before dropping the transmission) you check your stock quadrant for any missing teeth or other problems. They went bad in huge numbers on the Fox Mustangs, I can't imagine the old plastic gears will last forever on an SN95 either. Since the cable is fine, with missing teeth it may not disengage enough to let you get into gear. I'm with you that I've not experienced a bad clutch that doesn't slip, not being able to get into gear usually isn't a clutch failure-mode.
 
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I'd suggest (before dropping the transmission) you check your stock quadrant for any missing teeth or other problems. They went bad in huge numbers on the Fox Mustangs, I can't imagine the old plastic gears will last forever on an SN95 either. Since the cable is fine, with missing teeth it may not disengage enough to let you get into gear. I'm with you that I've not experienced a bad clutch that doesn't slip, not being able to get into gear usually isn't a clutch failure-mode.

Very good advice. I didn't even think of that.

Kurt
 
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I'd suggest (before dropping the transmission) you check your stock quadrant for any missing teeth or other problems. They went bad in huge numbers on the Fox Mustangs, I can't imagine the old plastic gears will last forever on an SN95 either. Since the cable is fine, with missing teeth it may not disengage enough to let you get into gear. I'm with you that I've not experienced a bad clutch that doesn't slip, not being able to get into gear usually isn't a clutch failure-mode.
I will check it tomorrow, I think it may have something to do with my problems because I’ve also just never had the cable be so hard to put on to the point that I need 2 people to install it, and when starting it in gear with foot on the clutch it rolls forward which I would expect to happen if the cable snapped or something (I melted a cable in my 94 and started it and drove it home in first)
 
I forgot to tell you, apparently the throw out bearing was replaced 3 weeks before I got the car and the clutch didn’t look too bad while the transmission was out, granted a lot can happen in 3 weeks wear wise if it was at the end of its life

A cheap throwout bearing can easily fail in 3 weeks. I've had them fail immediately.

Kurt
 
That’s true, same here. How would I go about checking if it’s the teeth on the quadrant ? I thought once you popped it off the stock one was done for , although I could be wrong

I generally just pull the dust cover off the clutch fork. Shine a flash light in there and rotate the engine over by hand to look for broken stuff.

Kurt
 
Inspect the clutch cable. I'm actually dealing with a bad clutch cable on a customer's car right now. On cold start it is fine fir about 60 seconds. But once any heat gets to it, the pedal gets very spongy, and the functionality of the clutch is destroyed. You can tell on a hot start that with the car in first and foot all the way on the clutch, car lurches forward ever so slightly unless I put my foot on the brake. His cable was a SR Performance cable from American Muscle. The outer material ripped and is allowing the metal to be exposed. This is right where the cable goes through the little hole in the bellhousing before attaching to the fork. Definitely start with the cable and adjustment, before tearing anything major apart.
 
Update part 2: while dropping the tranny I noticed my driveshaft was only about 1/2 way into the tailshaft of the tranny and though it was odd and that maybe I had the wrong driveshaft. Come to find today after buying a new trans, it was a fox t5 in the car. Never thought to check until I went to put the the bellhousing on the new trans and then saw the extra plug for for the cruise control on top
 
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Update part 2: while dropping the tranny I noticed my driveshaft was only about 1/2 way into the tailshaft of the tranny and though it was odd and that maybe I had the wrong driveshaft. Come to find today after buying a new trans, it was a fox t5 in the car. Never thought to check until I went to put the the bellhousing on the new trans and then saw the extra plug for for the cruise control on top

A factory driveshaft with a Fox transmission will work, it just doesn't get as much contact in the splines. It's a simple fix, you don't need another driveshaft, just buy a spacer for it. I know Steeda sells one.

Kurt