Howdy! I have a '94 Ranger with the 5 speed M5OD-R1 and I heard that the R2 is a much stronger transmission that can take V8 abuse. I know the bellhousings are different, but I want to know if it was possible to take the internals from an R2 and stick em in an R1. I've had 2 R1 trannies crap out on me, the first had 3rd gear synchro bent when I bought the truck and the second has no 5th gear synchro and all the bearings are smoked.

I just want my transmission to work and pull a trailer when needed without worrying about it breaking. If the R2 conversion isn't possible is there a kit I can buy that will beef up my R1 internals? How hard is it to rebuild these trannies yourself?

 

No, M5R2 is physically bigger so parts won't fit

M5R1 is rated up to 330ft/lb torque is not an issue with V6 engine

You experience with the M5R1 is not at all common, these transmissions were used from 1988 thru 2011 so 23 years on a few Ford models
They are very very reliable
Most common issue is that these transmissions use ATF, and people refill or top them up with Gear oil, and that causes some of the issues you describe
It was the first manual trans to use ATF so earlier models often got Gear oil, lol, because people or shops didn't know they used ATF, ALL manuals used gear oil up to that time

So its not a transmission design fault, for sure, there must be other reasons for the failures.

Not too hard to rebuild, several videos and how-to's are available, there are some special tools needed or DIY work arounds vs special tools, so look at a few build threads and videos first to see what you will need