Just bought an 04 2.3L ranger with 107K miles from a mechanic about a week ago. When I first got it shifting was fine(it is manual) but over the past week has been getting harder. When in motion everything is fine however if I am in a complete stop and try to put in gear it doesn't want to go and I have to shimmy it. I was told this might be because of my synchros. Wasn't big deal at first but now it's getting worse and harder to put in gear when stopped. I also park in first and noticed that when I later hopped in my truck and started it up I had trouble getting it into neutral(it didn't want to leave the gear). So is it my synchros or clutch? How to fix and would it be expensive?

 

Welcome to the forum

It's the clutch, not the synchros

The System is hydraulic and may have a leak but does have some air in it.

In the engine bay on the firewall next to power brake booster is the Clutch reservoir
Open the cap and pull out the black rubber insert if it is still there, it isn't needed, really.
Make sure there is Brake fluid in there, yes, clutch system uses Dot3 brake fluid.

If it is dry then yes you have a leak and yes, there is now air in the system.

When you push the clutch pedal down the Master cylinder's piston pushes fluid out a tube that goes down to Slave cylinder inside the bell housing.
Slave cylinders piston then moves out and pushes on pressure plate to Release pressure on the Clutch disc.
When FULLY released the engine is now disconnected from the transmission.

If there is any air inside the Master, the tube or the Slave then you will not get FULL movement at the Slave
It doesn't FULLY release the clutch disc, so disc RUBS on engine(flywheel), and engine is spinning at 700RPMs, at idle.

Transmission when you are stopped is spinning at 0 RPMs
So when you push in the clutch when stopped and try to put transmission into 1st gear, then clutch disc has to slow down to 0 RPMs from 700 RPMs
And if it is RUBBING then it is VERY hard to slow it down.

When you are moving it is not as hard because you are not trying to STOP the clutch disc(0 RPMs) just change its RPMs to match gears

For now try shifting into 3rd or 4th when stopped, and then once Clutch disc has stopped(it shifts into 3rd or 4th) then shift to 1st directly from 3rd or 4th

3rd or 4th has better leverage, lower ratio so easier to shift into when stopped.

But you will need to check for any leaks and also bleed the clutch system.
Many how-to's on the bleeding part, it isn't hard to do but you do need help from a friend to make it easier.
And get a bottle of Dot3 brake fluid

You can also try pumping the clutch pedal a few times, that can increase travel in the slave to fully release clutch disc
Do not try to force shift lever in to 1st too hard, there is a small "roll pin" holding shift fork to shift rail, and you can shear it off with too much pressure, top of transmission needs to come off to repair this, and you can be "locked" in gear if that happens