so im planning on changing the fluid in my manual tranny sometime soon and i was wondering if anyone knows what kind of fluid it uses... motor oil or ATF ect... also has anyone who has done this before tell me how hard it is... it looks easy to drain but i dont know how to fill it

 

your transmission uses about 2.8 quarts of ATF, its pretty easy to do, crawl under there, there is a big plug on the bottom labeled DRAIN, and one higher labeled FILL. nothing fancy other than drain and fill. we just did it on pinecones truck, using AMSOIL synthetic oil, and he is very happy, it quieted down a bad grind he had. check the links in my sig if youre interested

 

cool ill check it out b d

 

Where do you guy get your AMSOIL ?

 

I added some LUCAS tanny additive when I changed mine. I'm not sure about the other guys, but I had to get creative to fill mine. It's a whole lot easier if you can pump it in somehow.

 

Your manual uses Mercon ATF but the automatics use Mercon V with a different additive package. Some of the synthetics are "universal" and rated to work in place of either.

Filling the trans is the equivalent of making water run uphill. You can use a filler hose attached to the plastic bottle and squeeze it in. These are sold at auto parts and discount stores and have an adapter that screws onto the bottle.

 

That's pretty much what I did. I drilled a hole in one of the caps And ran a hose through it. Then I just squeezed it in.

I was thinking they hold more than just 1.5qts. I could be wrong. It was about 3 years ago when I changed mine, which I only did b/c I was missing about 6" of teeth on my flywheel and wanted to replace my clutch.

 

You are correct. The transmission holds 2.8 quarts, the transfer case holds 1.25 quarts.

The transfer case drain bolt is hidden behind a damper that needs to be unbolted to access it.

 

so for a 4x2 manual i will need 2.8 qts of Mercon ATF

 

Ya mine is auto trans fluid in mine just did it this summer, where my fill plug was though i needed to buy a fill pump to fill it there was no way you could pour it in.

 

How often should it be changed? Used to be you were never supposed to change fluid unless in for clutch or tranny work..

 

That's what it says in my 2003 owner's manual.

 

I believe my Haynes book says manuals only need changed every 150K, so not very often & you'd prolly replace your clutch before then anyways.

 

The 2003 Scheduled Maintenance book says change manual transmission fluid every 60K for normal operation, "as required" for trailer tow conditions.

If the truck is used off-road, dusty roads or for trailer tow, you should also change the transfer case fluid at 60K.

 

I either use a funnel with a few feet of plastic hose on it or put it in through the shifter, after taking it out of course. The shifter method is better for lower cars, like Cobras. For the truck I just have Julie pour into the funnel and I tell her to stop pouring when it's full.

 

Bob, ill have to have ryan check his tranny and see if its full after 1.5 quarts, he filled it himself and said some was coming out of the hole. the info i have here says 5.5 pints, i ran that by the ford back counter parts guy and he said that sounded right

 

That sounds more like what I put into mine

 

5.5 pints is 2.75 quarts which squares pretty well with the 2.8 quarts in the Ranger owner's manual. The transfer case is listed at 1.25 quarts.

 

ah i did my math wrong

 

Ok. All I remembered is that I put about 5 of something in there