5 speed mazda tranny problems

I bought a tranny at a salvage yard checked it out...seemed to be fine...it went through the gears, spun the input shaft and watched the output, no problems...fluid smelled fine. Installed it...cannot get it to go into any gears, completely locked out but the shifter will move to the left and right as it would in neutral...but try and push into 1st or any other gear...like pushing against a brick wall. I can hear the clutch engaging the flywheel. This is a 94 ranger w/ a 4 banger 5 speed...any ideas or suggestions...thanx, Tim

just trying again...anybody ever dealt with anything similar to this?

It sounded to me like a hydrolic clutch air bubble or lack of fluid, but if you're sure its engaging.... I dont know.

Tony, I appreciate the response...would an air bubble prevent it from going into gear even w/ the engine off..sometimes you can run manuals through the gears while it is just sitting...this won,t even do that....

Yea, your shift linkage is hitting under the car or the cross link is on the wrong way. use a chilton manual to show how the shift linkage is supposed to be and it will work. Hope this helps. Later, Mark.

can you tell me what a crosslink is?...and I,m not sure what linkage could be hitting on a toploading standard tranny...thanks