low pedal engagement, not bracket, not master, not slave

[mooseheadm5]

No, I get what you are doing. You are trying to get the input shaft to spin a little right before you shift and then shift into first quickly while the shaft is still spinning thinking that it helps line things up. Don't.

[taiden]

Engine off, on a slight incline, in a situation where first gear isn't going in with the clutch in. Let the car roll with the clutch in while you feed it first gear. It slips in. I'm doing the exact same thing.

"Don't"? Really?

[mooseheadm5]

If you can't engage first gear with the clutch pedal down by simply moving the shifter into place, the clutch is not disengaging fully. In the context you give in this last post, you may make it ever so slightly easier by providing some movement, but it should not be necessary. If you are trying to do this in real life with the engine running by spinning the shaft up in neutral and then quickly shifting it, you are not giving the synchros enough time to match speeds.

[taiden]

What I'm doing is no different than shifting into first from neutral. Some people hold the clutch in and keep trying over and over again. The trick is to let the clutch out in neutral and then try again. This doesn't really apply to cars with a syncro on first gear. I wasn't aware the e28 had a syncro on first gear.

[taiden]

Finally got my fasteners in. I had to buy in packs of five, so if anyone wants one I'll sell it for $10 shipped.

3/8" x 16 tpi
2" long set screw with inset allen head
thin and skinny nut for better clearance to bellhousing
316 stainless steel

marked for OEM clearance (compared to a new plastic pivot pin)

head rounded to match the contour of an OEM pivot pin


(fasteners before any modifications)

[m535is]

The E28 as with all BMWs from the well, the mid-70's has a synchro on first. Moose is correct. With the clutch disengaged you should not need to do anything, move the car, etc., to put it into first. I have never had this problem on any of the 20+ manual transmission BMW's I have driven. The only time I have ever had an issue putting it into first is with the engine off and rear wheels locked in position and without disengaging the clutch trying to put it in first. This sometimes will not work because the input and output shafts are not oriented correctly. If you are having trouble putting it into first, this is typically a sign of the pilot bearing being worn out causing the input shaft to spin more than usual which makes the 1st synchro work harder or the clutch is not fully disengaging which could be caused by a number of things.

Here is another way to think about it. The output shaft is stationary. Why would you spin the input shaft if you have a synchro? The goal of the operation is to get the gears engaged and in that situation the input and output shafts won't be moving. So that would mean that the synchros now have to work even harder to stop the input shaft, which doesn't make any sense.

If you are having trouble with the into first shift than you should look at if your clutch is fully disengaging and see if your pilot bearing is bad. Seeing as you have a completely flattened, or unuseable pivot pin, it makes me think that the clutch might be well overdue for a service even if the pressure plate and disk are good. I would say get in there and replace it all. You have spent so much time under the car working on this that you probably could have pulled the trans and replaced all these parts by now and have little to no further problems.

Just my $0.02

[taiden]

You have spent so much time under the car working on this that you probably could have pulled the trans and replaced all these parts by now and have little to no further problems.

Story of my life.