No clue about the OD, the inner workings of them is still largely a black box to me. However I can say that it doesn't sound like a solenoid problem, but instead something mechanical.

As for the reverse grinding and it being hard to put in 1st and 2nd, that sounds like a dragging clutch. The more benign cause of this is a clutch cable in need of adjustment, such that when the pedal is all the way down the clutch isn't quite 100% released. If the clutch 'bites' very close to the floor that could be your problem - the adjuster nut is at the trans end of the cable. More sinister causes would be a bad pilot bearing (which may sometimes make noise) or something amiss with the rpessure plate. But I'd suspect that cable adjustment first.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.