I recently bought a 94 Ranger XLT 4.0 5sp. I am having some issues with the tranny. First the clutch is really hard to push down. Second it is really hard to shift gears, I have to push hard for it to engage. Gears never grind. Also the shifter feels really sloppy. Any ideas on what to check? I have driven/owned manuals in the past but never worked on one before. Thanks

 

ill hafta do some diggin on the loose shifter. ford will try to sell you a complete shifter, but you can order jus the bushings and rebuild it for alot cheaper.

hard shift, have you checked the fluid level in the clutch resevoir? ive never seen/felt one with a hard clutch pedal...


edit* heres a couple threads on TRS w/ part numbers:
http://www.therangerstation.com/foru...hp?t35130.html
http://www.therangerstation.com/foru...hp?t23738.html

 

Where is the clutch resevoir? Also where would I find the "linkage", I heard those can get bent or be not aligned.

 

clutch resv. is on the firewall. no linkages in our clutch setup. all hydraulic

 

Checked it, fluid was good. I think I found the problem. Or part of it.





There are two really thin chewed up bushing on the top of the ball. Also the washer in the background it came off the upper portion somewhere and I dont know what it was on. I dont know if it matters but the large nut for my shifter points foward to back not side to side.

 

the older ones were front to back, the newer ones are side to side.

thats is where the bushings go from the threads i linked on TRS. that should fix your sloppy shifter.

 

I just ordered all the parts. It ended up costing me $83 and my parts will be in tomorrow.

 

I put all the parts in and the truck shifts a lot better. No play in shifter and easier to put it in the gears. 1st and second are a little temperamental sometimes though. I try to put in gear and I hear/feel a clunk sound.

 

glad to hear the shifter is fixed.
the M5 can generally be a clunky/notchy tranny. best solution is to flush the fluid, and add some snychromesh with the new fill of ATF. some guys also say synthetic fluids help smooth out the notchy characteristics of the M5.

 

Sounds good, I need to flush anyway. What does snychromesh do and where do you get it? Also would Mercron 5 be good to use or would mercron 3 be better?

 

your tranny should require mercIII.
snychromesh is a GM tranny fluid alot of people use in other trannies to help quite them down/shift better

 

Mercron 5 is supposed to be a universal replacement and will work in vehicles that are supposed to use Mercron 3. Mercron 5 is also a partial synthetic.