Almera Gearbox problems

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if anybody could enlighten me as to why my gearbox is playing up.

When driving the car, going up and down the gears is very stiff on each shift. You do get the odd shift which is smooth but the majority of changes take quite some force.

Also it has that inevitable crunching of cogs as it goes into reverse.

My question is, is this a gearbox problem or a simple case of the clutch plate being worn?

Is there anything I can do to test it?

Would it be a hard job to do, as the plates are quite cheap and I'm sure if I took it to a garage it would cost a fortune to repair.

Thanks for any advice
Tom