I've seen syncro's so bad that they were literally stuck to the gear and wouldn't allow you to get it out of gear. They wore so bad that they got cocked in there sideways. You said in second or first pulling up to a stop sign.....Do you down shift to slow down? That the worse thing you could do to a manual transmission.
I had one AX-15 get so bad that I had to turn the engine off to get the shifter to budge, out of gear, and the same going into first, turn it off, get into gear with clutch in and start it.
When slowing down, im always in neutral. I never drag the motor when decel.
After reading Jeffys info on gear lube, im gonna put Amsoil in it and see if thats any better. Right now i have cheap Castrol and Lucas Heavy Add.
Thank for the great input guys.