I recently put a manual 5 speed transmission in my 94 ranger. the transmission is geared too high for me and I was wondering if you can rebuild the transmission and put different gears in to make it slower, I don't even know if this is possible with my transmission. any input at all would be helpful

 

What do you mean its geared to high? Is it a stock transmission? What is you gear ratio in the front and rear diffs?

 

Are you meaning the shift pattern?(like the RPMs that it shifts at) Or are you talking the truck being too fast off the line?

Most likely your wanting to change your axle gears.

 

it is a stock manual 5 speed transmission that i got out of an explorere. I do not know what I have for gear ratios in my differentials, they have never been changed. what i mean by geared too high is that it is hard to get going and you need to ride the clutch more then i feel you should to get it going. yes the truck is too fast off the line, i would much rather it be slower in first and reverse as well

 

Get the axle codes off the sticker on the driver's side door jam and post them here.

 

You just contradicted yourself in your last post

 

OP forgot to mention he has downs.

 

First gear on M5ODs is very low. It's almost a granny gear and since Rangers R1 is closely related to the R2 (which did have a granny gear for 1st in 4H) it makes sense that it is that way. It's just the way the trannys are built. It's a truck transmission...not an Escorts.

 

Give it more gas and let the clutch out faster problem solved.

Unless your using second.

 

Yes.In the same paragraph.

 

I think 1st and reverse are way to high(too fast, I don't need to go 30mph in 1st) Sucks when your parking a trailer.

 

Since this post was right after mine I feel that I should remind others that I am a walking contradiction.
Or at least I was , or still am , or I ....

 

(rolsmojave) that is exactly my problem, it is a pain starting at lights in traffic when you are on a hill or starting off anywhere for that matter, have you ever heard of changing the gears in the transmission? i am leaning towards changing the gears in the differentials but I would like to keep the gearing the same in the higher gears because this is my daily driver and I like the fact that at 55 im only cranking 1600

 

What your talking about makes absolutly no sense. I've never heard of anyone trying to change the gears in a transmission. The only phrase that comes to mind here is "learn how to drive a clutch". If you don't like how first gets you going off of a light, Start out in 2nd. I've driven rangers with Manual's before and i have never had any problems doing anything you've described.

 

X2 ... I know exactly how you feel. It sucks when you're in stop and go traffic too.
I drive my Ranger with an automatic when I know I'm going to be in traffic.

 

Not to sound like a smart a**, but an auto trans would take care of all your issues with the transmission being geared too high.

 

You guys aren't getting it....Well Blackranger 04 is. 1st is numerically too low, It takes too much throttle to get it moving. It's perfect for rolling stops, but you can't do that all the time. Even with 4.10 diff gears I feel 1st is to fast of a gear. I can drive it just fine, but with a trailer and off roading I'm sure clutch life is going to be limited. Granted I'm on my only clutch with 100k, but it sucks having to use 4x4Lo just to get the trailer out of spots sometimes.

 

Ahhh, got it. What you're saying is that you feel that the overall gear rations are too low and you would like to change them to be (numerically is always assumed in these conversations) higher. First, no, I haven't heard of changing gears in transmissions; I have heard of changing transmissions to alter ratios (in cars, not a Ranger). Your best move will be to change the axle ratio to one that is higher than what you have now. For example, suppose you have 3.08:1 (ie, granny gears), you'll probably want to look into 3.73's or 4.10's. BTW, since Rangers are abundant in junkyards you should be able to score a deal on a complete rear end assembly for a better price than buying a new ring & pinion and paying (or DIY) to set it up, and there is more to setup that just slapping in the ring & pinion and calling it done.

Figure out what you have now and do the math on possible options. For example, going from 3.08's to 4.10's is a 33% increase in engine speed in all gears, and of course, a 33% applied torque increase where the rubber meets the road. Of course, keep in mind that the resulting increase in engine speed nearly always will result in lower freeway mileage; in town it could go either way depending on how and where you drive. Oh, there is another alternative to lowering your overall ratio, but I doubt you're gonna like it. You could go to smaller diameter tires. Just do the math before buying to see the result. And when it's all said and done, remember to calibrate your speedo.

 

(CowboyBilly9Mile) thank you for your response that answers my question very well, so what your saying is that i probably wouldn't be able to change the gears in the transmission but i should change them in the differentials? that is what I am leaning towards doing but the only thing that I am worried about is that if I change the differentials then I will have a lower top speed so i will be cranking quite a lot more RPM's to do the same speed. next year I will be (hopefully) putting 31" or 33" inch tires because my tires look too small with the lift that I put in. if I was to do this then I would have to change my gears quite a lot to get it to go slower. I just went out and checked the ratios and it says that I have a rear 3.27. how do i find out what the front is?

 

Chg the diff gears to 4.56s that will work with 33” tire and give you all of the power you will need.

 

He wants less power.

 

You could get a truck with a 3.27 in it? wtf.
Eitherway, your upfront Gear Ratio is the same, otherwise your transfercase would blow up.
if your only going to 33's, go with 4.10s. you'll be doing around 3krpms @70mph i believe.

 

Actually, you should be able to change gears in the transmission. I don't know what Explorer transmission you have but the Ranger M50D-R1 had two different sets of gears depending on which engine Ford coupled it with. The 4.0L engine had taller gears (lower numerically) in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Those gears where lower speed (higher numerically) for the 4 cyl, 2.9L and 3.0L engines. I don't know if the gears are actually interchangeable but they should be.

 

Oh, it's 4X, that means you get to swap the front and back. Still, if you junkyard them it's gonna be much cheaper than going new, even if you do the work yourself. Swap the rear axle assembly and swap the front pumpkin. Careful with parts vehicles other than a 4.0 as you *may* run into issues (do your homework b4 buying). I think the non-4.0's of your vintage used a smaller setup in the front axle (spline count), but that needs to be verified. Also, the 3.0's had a 7.5" ring gear, you don't want that. As for top speed, it'll be more than fine and it won't be winding out on a freeway, thanks to 5th being overdrive. Said another way, you'll be able to go as fast as you will ever need to in a pickup, and with room to spare. For a change example, if you can find 4.10's this will increase your engine speed in all gears by 25%. Whatever the speed on the freeway was when you said it showed 1600 RPM, that will go to a hair over 2000 RPM. You will also increase the torque at the axles by the same amount, 25%; however, you will NOT increase the horsepower one bit. Other gear change percentage changes and results are just a few clicks away on any calculator.

As an example, right now I'm turning about 2,500 @70 MPH in 5th (5R55E), I believe it's a 20% overdrive (would have to verify), 4.10 axles, and the tires are 31.5's. I'm tired of being teathered to gas pumps and feeding my little pig, but level II's only came with 4.10's. If they were available out the door with 3.73's, I'd have been an owner.

 

I get anywhere from 17-21 with my 4.10 gear, what are you getting cowboy