Ford Ranger problems

ToadHill · Mar 17, 2007

My son has a 93 Ford Ranger with a 4.0 engine and 5 speed tranny. The tranny seems to have packed it in. Does anyone know if the tranny from the 2.3 or 3.0 will bolt up to the bellhousing of the 4.0 engine?

TractorLegend · Mar 19, 2007

I seriously doubt that would be the case but the best resource would be a wrecking yard---they have interchange books that will verify if'fn it will of if'fn it won't. .

Jagmandave · Mar 20, 2007

I wouldn't think that would be the right choice, the 4.0 has a lot more torque than the 4 cyl, I'd think it will be a different trans.......

Amontilado · Mar 20, 2007

try and stick with the Mazda trans that came with the 4.0. I believe one from the 2.9 will fit, but you may get either a mitsubishi or mazda transmission. Before you put it in, service the slave cylinder and clutch, along with installing new plastic "cups" on the top of the transmission, they've been known to leak on the mazdas, leading to loss of fluid and meltdown. What is wrong with the transmission? The clutch has an annoying habit of becoming extremely spongy when very hot. The transmission has held up well, even when towing quite a bit of weight (55 sheets of 1/2" sheetrock along with 3 sheets of 5/8" fire resistent sheetrock).

Steve

TractorLegend · Mar 20, 2007

Amontilado said:
The clutch has an annoying habit of becoming extremely spongy when very hot. The transmission has held up well, even when towing quite a bit of weight (55 sheets of 1/2" sheetrock along with 3 sheets of 5/8" fire resistent sheetrock).
Steve

Good thing you hauled "fire resistant" sheetrock---that may have saved you!! :~}

ToadHill · Mar 21, 2007

Thanks for the thoughts. My son just replaced the clutch and all the hydralics with it. A few days later the tranny stuck in first gear, we took off the sifter and with a screwdriver I was able to get it into second gear, but you still couldn't shift it. He was taking a slow ride to the shop to have his friend look at it and suddenly it started shifting like it should.
I told him to drain the gear lube, see if he can get a small magnet in the drain hole as he may have some loose chip from a piece of metal floating that jammed the shifter.

Amontilado · Mar 21, 2007

A lot of the info I use to look after my '99 Ranger I gather from the site;

The Ranger Station - Your Ultimate Ranger Resource

She just turned 155,000 miles, doesn't use a drop of oil between 6,000 mile oil changes, even when using synthetic, and still gets better than 23 mpg in mixed city/interstate/rural road travels. This is with the 3.0 litre V6 and Mazda 5-speed manual.

Steve

HGM · Mar 21, 2007

ToadHill said:
Thanks for the thoughts. My son just replaced the clutch and all the hydralics with it. A few days later the tranny stuck in first gear, we took off the sifter and with a screwdriver I was able to get it into second gear, but you still couldn't shift it. He was taking a slow ride to the shop to have his friend look at it and suddenly it started shifting like it should.
I told him to drain the gear lube, see if he can get a small magnet in the drain hole as he may have some loose chip from a piece of metal floating that jammed the shifter.

The M5OD is a good trans if you watch the plugs in the shifter housing as mentioned earlier. The bellhousing is different between each engine, so only a 4.0L will work(possibly the 2.9L, but I agree thats not the best choice) but there's allot of them arround if you can find one that has'nt been melted down....

This post made me think though.. It could possibly be that the pilot bearring is trashed. If is will stay in a gear, try shifting it without the clutch at "optimum" shift points. This will take the input shaft "wobble" out of the picture.. It could very well be a $5 fix with a bit of labor...