Bought what was supposed to be an operational 78 5 speed on CL.  It is on my workbench, not hooked up to an engine.  Put a shifter on it and ran through the gears, but I cannot get it into 5th gear.  is there ANY reason it should not go into 5th?  It acts just like my 4 speed.  I thought I would look foolish here before I go back to the seller and look like an idiot.  In my defense, I've never had a 5 speed out of the vehicle, so I'm not sure how it should act.  I assume it should just slide into 5th.  It goes to all of the other gears easily, including reverse.

Maybe the guy didn't know what he had.  The case is the 'B' type, so it could be a 4 or 5 speed?

Be gentle.

 

It should go into fifth just like any other gear.

Wouldn't be the first time something like this happened... I went to look at a "five speed", and after trying unsuccessfully to get it into fifth, I had the difficult task of breaking the news to the guy trying to sell it. He (honestly I think) didn't know.

Boy am I glad I checked!! (Sorry...)

I'll poke him and see what he says.  $150 for the tranny and a driveshaft, so it's not like I'm out a whole lot if he won't take it back.  Thanks for the reply.

Just spitballing, but is it an early B or a later B case?  I don't think the later B cases, 81-83, came in a 4 speed version.  

Are you turning the input shaft while you try?  Could be just synchro gear teeth points jammed together.

The later 5 speed later cases also have a 5th gear lockout mechanism.  Don't know if it jams up or not, but it would be an outwardly visible sign of it actually being a 5 speed.

One more thing - the 4 speeds have a plate that bolts on to the the top that none of the 5 speeds have.  That's the best tell.

I think it's early.  It has ' Two muffler hanging tangs + short shifter mount ears = 77-78 280z '.  It also has the cover with 6 bolts near the back.  I tried turning the input and that had no effect.  It's like it hits a hard stop when you go towards 5th.

pictures will be better

 

Zed has this right unfortunately. That is definitely a 4 speed sorry.