I've got a manual 2005 3.0L 2WD Edge. My truck's making a noise in the cab, I'm guessing through the shifter boot, like, as somebody from another forum said, "putting some ball bearings in a glass jar and running it in a circular motion so they roll around the sides of the jar".

This happens whenever I put the shifter into 1st or 2nd gear while the truck is moving. It doesn't matter whether my clutch is depressed or out, the sound's still there. It's softer in 3rd gear and indistinguishable in 4th and 5th. The sound stops when my truck stops in any gear, or when I shift into neutral while the truck's moving (clutch still doesn't make a difference).

I changed my transmission fluid yesterday, and it came out pretty nasty with metal shavings and all, but the noise was still there when I drove it today. I'm thinking it might have something to do with the synchros. Any ideas?

 

sounds more like a bearing issue to me.

 

I'm assuming you mean internal bearings, is this something I can fix without too much trouble, or should I just switch out my whole transmission for a rebuilt/junkyard piece?

Also, how long could I drive on it? I know it's a dumb question and hard to answer, but I haven't been able to find much online about transmission internal bearings.

 

Its kind of hard to say exactly which bearing, really. If it was the input shaft bearing, it would stop making noise after pushing the clutch in, I was leaning towards the pilot bearing, but then i read only In 1st and 2nd gear. Its a toss up with a junkyard tranny, but the cheapest way to go. You could drive on yours until it stopped working at all if you want.