BroncoII Ford ranger, same thing TRANSMITION HELP 5 SPEED HELP!!!

Right now im driving a toyota celica, everything seems to have broken on this car and i was looking into buying my friends 1985 ford broncoII 4x4 . the only ****problem**** is the transmition. Ive driven a standard for a good period of time and know the basics. It is difficult to find the gears at least for me (maybe cause it was my first time to use a bronco 5speed) but i found them eventualy. the reverse gear although would not engage. when i shifted into reverse (after searching for it) it would grind and not go into gear. my friend says its always had a weak reverse and the previous owner had installed a new clutch, the clutch felt tight and seemed to be working proporly. He is selling the bronco for 400 bucks. Oh btw, its a 2.8 V6 /carb . if i can repair this transmition inexpensivly or anyone has any ideas about what the problem might be , it would be greatly welcomed. so far my ideas are shift linkage / scrinros. still unsure because im new to the automotive world and do not have alot of "Ford knowledge". thanks for reading this.

hmmm is it the mitisubiti or the mazda tranny. The mitsu has a curved shift stick and the mazda's is a sraight stick. It is probabally the sycros, But I don't think reverse is sycronized anyway. have fun with that 2.8 carb. POS. :iceslolan . I hate thoes things. but 400 bucks run it untill it's dead

Is the shifter a toploader ? does it seem to have a lot of slop ? I dont know if this might help but I ran into a few f-150's that the stub shaft coming out of the top had some wiped out nylon bushings.