Today I looked at a parts 240D with a manual transmission. The tranny would be going into my 81 SD. I have read about all the auto to manual conversion stories and am very confident with the whole swap. My question is, when I looked at the car I moved through the gears all engaged except for reverse. It seemed like it wouldn't even go into the pattern. I read that reverse has its own linkage and this could be the problem. My buddy also said it could be a bad synchro. Do either of these sound like a common problem? I know my way around the entire car, but having not had a manny tranny before I feel like a child walking into the middle of a movie wanting to know whats going on. ANy help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

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1981 300 SD 213k miles "Stock for now"
1999 Super Duty 7.3L 113k miles
1981 300 SD 180k miles "Heavily modified" SOLD