Problem shifting into reverse

I have an '03 Toyota Camry 4-cyl. (a made in Japan model) with 5-speed manual tranny. Has about 30K (most of it highway).

Recently it has been more and more likely to be reluctant to shift into reverse. Having driving manuals for 30+ years, I know most of the tricks -- shift into first, move forward a bit and try again, shift into fifth and don't move and then shift into reverse, etc.

But, on two recent occassions, I had the need to back-up quickly -- the most recent being an "older" driver who for some reason decided to back into my car as we were both sitting waiting for the stoplight to change. Had I been able to get into reverse quickly, I would have avoided the crash (which caused no damage, but still...).

Anyway, I don't understand the mechanics of this problem, which I had have in all my manual tranny cars to a greater or lesser extent. Can someone explain it. Is there a -- CHEAP -- way to help make this less of an issue?

The trouble with shifting into reverse is that the car is stationarywhich means the output gear will not be spinning. In forward gears the differential feeds motion back to the gearboxe's output gear allowing easier meshing with the input (engine driven) gear. In reverse you are forcing 2

*stationary* gears to engage. While trying to do this you often get 'locked-out' because of misalignment of the engagement dog and ring. The fast way to avoid this is to press the clutch to the floor and quickly move the stick to reverse. This means the input gear will still be spinning-down (slowing down) which means there will be a little crunch sound,..but at least you have succeeded in picking up reverse quickly.

Mechaics always prefer the driver to crunch the gears a little than to use brute force,..as this can cause gear-retaining circlips to be forced out of their gear-shaft grooves.

My terms here are not quite right,..but the dynamics of what is occuring is correct, as long as the gearbox doesn't have other problems..

Jason