Could gearbox be damaged by pushing gear lever too hard with broken clutch?

Question

Yesterday I was unfortunate enough to have my clutch give up while a few miles away from home. My clutch pedal started vibration a lot and then after a quick pop, I had no gears. I didn't know you could turn the engine off and select gear and then turn it back on in gear, as it was a first occurrence like that for me. I pushed the clutch in and with some extra force tried all gears, sometimes pumping the clutch, sometimes just holding it fully pressed on the pedal until I finally managed to get into 2nd gear. I didn't put crazy amount of weight on the gear lever but it definitely had some force to it. Once I turned the engine off, I tried all gears with no clutch pedal pressed and they all go in pretty smooth, 5th and 6th gear slightly harder than 1 trough 4 and reverse, but still go in and the gearstick doesn't pop out.

Could I have damaged something internal in the box itself by those forcible attempts to get into gear? 5th and 6th gear being a bit harder to engage with engine turned off makes me worry or is it normal for them to get in slightly harder than 1st and reverse for example? Anything I can try to check it? My mechanic will take the car next week as he's on holiday and I'm worried somewhat, but he said some bearing (throw-out?, input shaft?) went out most likely. What do you think?

The car is a diesel with a DMF, Alfa 147 C630 6-speed gearbox.

Answer 1

Yes, you can damage your transmission by "forcing" the shifter. The most common damage would be bent or broken shift forks. These are fork-shaped parts that move the gears along the shafts to engage with other gears. When you force the lever you put excess stress on the forks and they can bend or break.

You will know they are damaged because the transmission will not longer shift at all into certain gears or will be difficult to shift.

Unfortunately, repairing this usually means removing and disassembling the transmission.

Answer 2

Manual xmissions are reliable and way ahead of automatics since the beginning of motorized vehicles. It would be extremely difficult to damage manual xmission gears by force no matter how strong a person is as the xmission gears will literally talk to you, screaming as gears grind. You probably wore out either the clutch disc or blew the hydraulic system that makes clutches engage/disengage with pedal pushing/releasing. The hydraulic system is acts the same way as hydraulic brakes.

The fact that you can shift gears without depressing the clutch pedal is the accepted test to separate a xmission gearbox issue and shift assembly from most likely a blown clutch master or slave cylinder or worn out clutch disc. This is typical of long term use of manual xmissions with hydraulics and clutch discs wearing out in normal driving. If the clutch hydraulics are blown hydraulic oil should be leaking and leave a tell tale puddle on the ground. Brake fluid is used in clutch hydraulics.