I was backing out of my friends driveway last night, which is a bit of a down grade to the road. I started the car, and let the brake off so the car would roll on out of the driveway. When the car was rolling backwards, I went to slip it in reverse and it grinded like a mofo.
I tried going into 1st when rolling backwards and no problem.

Is this normal?

I wouldnt worry much. IF you were rolling backwards then it is normal.

The reverse gear itself doesnt have a synchro. The reverse in our Trans is actually an idler gear the gets slipped in-between the input and output shaft. There is a synchro on the input shaft to slow the shaft when you go into reverse. Now the output shaft does not have a synchro on it so if you are moving then the reverse idler gear will gring as it begins to spin.

As long as reverse goes into gear when you are sitting still then i wouldnt worry about it. The reverse synchro wears out and people never know it.

The trans i just rebuilt had the reverse inout shaft syncho really screwwed up. it wasnt even functional but reverse worked just fine. So we can conclude that the reverse syncho on the input shaft was designed only for extra measures, not critical.

Terry

Thanks a million for the info Terry

It's also a straight cut dog gear and not helical, which is why reverse whines.