I also had issues downshifting into 1st at speed.
What speed? There is a limit to the speed you can safely downshift....a lot depends on the axle ratio.
10mph and over I would say. Excuse my ignorance, but this is the first old-school manual I have owned. It sounds like I need to do just what you guys are mentioning, downshift to 3 and 2 and then wait until almost stopped to drop into 1. I appreciate all the help guys, I just wanted to make sure I was not having another issue.
I will also measure the clearance between the clutch and flywheel, we checked for clearance when we installed the clutch but did not measure.