The present invention, in its disclosed embodiment, is a strut-type synchronizer including a shift sleeve having a modified internal splined surface profile adapted to coact with the struts to counteract normal drag forces produced upon axial movement of the shift sleeve during shifting of gears. In a preferred form, the spline tooth "profile" modification includes the addition of two ramped surfaces circumferentially extending around the inner bore of the shift sleeve on opposite sides of the detent groove and which are in communication therewith. These ramped surfaces act to change the radially directed engagement force between the struts and the applied surface of the shift sleeve into an axially directed force for assisting axial sleeve travel to minimize frictional shift resistance.