2006 navara 1st gear crunching

as i am just about to purchase a navara, i checked one out yesterday, 2006 st-r 3.0 deisel. all seemed ok, except 1st gear seemed to want to crunch as you put it into 1st, at a moving speed, it did alot of grinding trying to get back to 1st, the owner seemed to think this was normal? i was assuming that maybe the syncro in 1st was shot?? the car only has just under 90k on it, can anyone here spread some light on the situation and is there anthing else i should be looking at when buying one of these models 2nd hand?
any help would be much appreciated.

G'day a few others were talking about this the other day. Maybe if ya try a search for "1st gear" the thread will show up. My 08 model has never crunched in the time I've had it. Did it seem to change after the car was driven for a while as the oil warmed-up?

Goata said:

G'day a few others were talking about this the other day. Maybe if ya try a search for "1st gear" the thread will show up. My 08 model has never crunched in the time I've had it. Did it seem to change after the car was driven for a while as the oil warmed-up?

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the car was already warm as he had just brought it back from getting the rwc done. i just spoke to my mechanic and he beleives with that car you pretty much have to be at a complete stop before changing back to 1st. seems to be a pain as if you need to do a quick change back to 1st while offroad, it could mean the difference between making it out the othe side or getting ready to do a recovery.
i did try a search and sorted through all the post last nite and this morning and couldnt seem to find anything that was relivant.

Mine does the same if you try and put it in 1st while it's still moving. I got a 05. If your worried about geting 1st in the bush cos ya think your going to get stuck your most likely gonna be in 4x4 and the gearing different.

My 2004 model has done that since new, it shits me to tears, but is not really a problem exept for the rare occasion when turning a tight cnr uphill towing a large load and a 1st gear downchange would be nice. It still goes in if yr gentle and dont force it or match revs. Im hoping a different oil will help.

Mine's a 2010 and it does it too. I normally double clutch it and it goes in OK. I only ever try and shift back to first if I have to stop tho... but of course that's not always possible. I get the occasional crunch going back to third too if I'm going a bit too quick. I did have an 85 patrol before this tho, which was the same, so I just thought it was a Nissan thing, lol. After all it is a 4wd, its not like its a racing car so I just deal with it...