Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum, and i'm not the best with a pc. So please have a little mercy if I'm asking something that's been covered.

I'm currently trying to help out my boss with his 92 ranger (3.0 auto). The trans has some major issues like almost always bypassing 2nd gear and slipping badly. He only uses the truck to commute to and from work (keeping the miles off the new truck). It never see's any towing or hauling duty. I've been to all the local junkyards looking for a replacement and can't find one. Everyone tells me to convert it to 5-speed (which he can't drive) or have it rebuilt locally (which is about what the truck is worth).

So my questions are:

1.) Since the a4ld was used behind 4 and 6 cylinder motors from say 85 to 94. Is it possible to use a 4 cylinder trans and just swap the bell housing?

2.) I know that the mazda trucks used the a4ld but I think the tail housing is different. Can you swap the tail housing and it work fine or would you be better off using the mazda drive shaft and leaving it alone?

Any help or point in the right direction would be welcomed.

 

Ok so I think I stumbled across the answer to the first question last night. You can in fact swap the bell housing and use the 2.3 or 4.0 a4ld behind the 3.0, but the front pump is attached to the bell housing. So I still need to find info on the front pumps to know if I would need to swap the pump also. And just in case anyone else is thinking about doing something like this, ford says to replace the bell housing bolts. In reality it's not the bolts that need to be replaced it's the rubber o-rings on the bolts.

 

Ok so i figured i'd give everyone a quick up date. I managed to find a mazda b4000 in the local junkyard and used the trannie from it. I had to swap the bell housing that that was it. The brackets for the shift linkage were different and needed to be swapped over but all in all it was a pretty straight fwd deal. I think fighting the exh was the worst part.