Things have just been going too smooth of late. Driving my 94 manual transmission XLT, elec. shift 4wd, 4.0 Ranger Saturday, I down shifted to 2nd gear in 4wd as I approached a light. There was a tremendous THUNK, and I looked out the mirrors to see if I had left anything on the road as I coasted to a stop for the red light. It turned green, I let up on the clutch, and NOTHING. Engine still running smoothly, but no forward motion. Shifted gears and tried 2nd, and kept releasing/depressing/releasing the clutch - but still nothing. Some kind folks behind me helped push it in neutral to the side, and my son helped tow me a couple blocks to my mechanics. It sits there awaiting his verdict on Monday morning, but in the mean time, I'd like some opinions on what I'm looking at. The truck seems to shift gears without a problem. There is no noise or difference between 1st and 2nd. Never tried 3rd or 4th. Never tried Reverse. Did not unlock the hubs back into 2wd. Clutch feels the same as it did before the THUNK. Pushed and towed in neutral with no noise or problems. Looked underneath, and the drive shaft was still up in place, but I did not inspect the u-joints (almost 20 below zero, and lots of snow.) Haven't been feeling or hearing anything peculiar lately. Anybody want to give me their best guess? Thanks.

 

"best guess"; a broken output shaft.

 

Try 4th gear

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and reverse all use input shaft gear and counter shaft

4th is a direct drive/connection between input shaft and output shaft, 1:1 ratio

If it moves in 4th then input shaft gear is stripped as is counter shaft drive gear
Picture here: http://www.nationalnewstoday.com/wp-...enfeld-10b.jpg

Input shaft is upper left, clutch disc is on this shaft
Counter shaft is lower gear set

Input shaft gear drives the counter shaft for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and reverse gears
While this is not a common issue with the M5OD-R1 transmission it is known to happen

Other thing is the transfer case
You would need to drop the transfer case and then start engine and run transmission thru its gears to see if its rear shaft is spinning, if so then transfer case is the issue