I recently purchased (E-Bay) an aftermarket bearing and syncro kit to rebuild my Samurai 5 speed. After assembly I had difficulty with the low speed (1st and 2nd gear). The best that I can describe it is that from neutral into first there are (generally speaking) two clicks of the shifter. What was happening that after the first click the shifter would stop and not allow full engagement of first gear. If you released a bit of pressure and continued (double shift per se) into first it would go. This occurred with or without the engine running if that matters.
I contacted Robet at Petroworks and after describing my delima he asked me if my syncros were aftermarket. Yes. He went on to say that in the past they have experienced problems mainly in the low speed syncros (1st-2nd gear) with the aftermarket syncros. My description was spot on. He went on to say that they will only use OEM (Suzuki) manufactured syncros. He says the aftermarket ones look exactly like the OEM but just don't seem to work.
I purchased the OEM syncros from Petroworks and installed them. The shifting is now perfect. The aftermarket syncros for the taller gears dont seem to produce the same problems that are found with the low speed syncros.
Now, this is only my opinion and personal experience, but after rebuilding the transmission, if I were to do it again, I would not buy E-Bay stuff. I hope this helps others identify a similiar problem and possibly aid them in their decision as to where to buy parts. Taking the transmission out a second time isn't fun when it's due to inferior parts.
My thanks to Petroworks for their help.
