Hey everyone. I'm new to the ranger forums. I bought my 07 3.0 sport 2wd a little over a month ago at a dealership and around a week or two after buying it I started getting issues with the tranny and would really appreciate some help.

So right after starting the truck up, warm or cold I get problems putting the truck into first or reverse. At first i could just pump the clutch once or twice and it'd slide in. But now I have to pump the clutch a ton or cram it into second and then into first. I never force it into gear though. Or i just start in second the first time. And it does not slide in to second easily. After driving for awhile the problem does get better but its still there a bit. And it always sort of takes some crunching to get it into first. Unless I am just rolling to a stop and right before i stop, i put it into first. Thats when it goes in the easiest. It never grinds, i never have problems getting into gears while moving. It also slides in perfectly to any gear when the engine is shut off. 2nd gear is a little tough to get into along with 3rd before i start moving after startup, After its fine. While driving i never have any trouble getting into 2nd 3rd or 4th. A couple times on the highway though I havent been able to get into 5th and i have to go back to 4th try again and then it'll go in. Sometimes it'll take an extra try though. I've talked to a mechanic and my uncle who knows a lot about older cars. They said to check transmission fluid, clean linkages and maybe bleed or replace the clutch slave cylinder. At first i thought it might be synchros but reverse doesnt have one. If you got any questions about it, shoot. Thanks in advance

 

And now I’m afraid u now why previous owner got rid of it.... in all seriousness though my money is on the slave cyl. My 2010 I bought with 78k on it and ended up having mine replaced around 80k .......under warranty! Not knowing the history here, it sure wouldn’t hurt to change the fluid in transmission .... regular Mercon V if memory serves me right.... I guess u could try to bleed it, however if it is the original and nobody has messed with it, why would it all of a sudden need bleed?

 

Haha this could be. I didn't have the issue the first week or two of driving it at all though. Is it possible that the previous owner or dealership bled the slave cylinder then sold it and now the problem is coming back? And it needs to be replaced?

 

I suppose somebody may have bled it..... the possibility is there, if u end up replacing it though, do yourself a favor and only use genuine ford parts...... they are more $$$$$ but it seems everyone who uses the aftermarket stuff end up with issues....

 

1990 and up Ranger got the M5OD-R1 manual transmissions these are full synchro, even Reverse

Yes, you have air in the clutch hydraulic system

Many on-line How-tos to bleed this system.
It is not easy to get all the air out because of the angle of the master so best practice is to pull it out, disconnect push rod from pedal, push rod doesn't come off off master easily

Then bleed the system, the extra time it takes will be worth it in the long run.

Yes, check bellhousing for brake fluid/clutch fluid, if slave is leaking then more air will get sucked in every time you release clutch pedal

For now, when stopped, try shifting into 3rd or 4th, this gives you more leverage to slow down input shaft/clutch disc to 0 RPMs, so you can shift into 1st or Reverse

Engine is idling at 650-750RPM, when stopped rear wheels/driveshaft and transmission are at 0RPMs, so to engage any gear when stopped you have to get input shaft/clutch disc down to 0RPMs
Clutch disc is sandwiched in between Flywheel and Pressure plate, both bolted directly to engine's crank shaft so both spinning at engine RPMs
If there is ANY rubbing at all between clutch disc and fly wheel/pressure plate it is VERY hard to slow it down to 0RPMs, especially with a 4" synchro and 10" clutch disc
This is why full disengagement of clutch disc is important, and why even a little air can be bad

 

+1 to all comments above,

I have replaced more slave cylinders than I'd like to remember... kind of a pain in the butt overall.

Try bleeding it in the vehicle. It possible that the only problem is that there is air in the hydraulics. You will see that the bleeder is right above the line where it passes through the bellhousing. Do you know if master or slave were replaced recently? It is more likely that either the slave or master cylinder is starting to fail (and therefore sucking in air from a seal somewhere). You're depending on a bunch of tiny o rings to keep everything sealed, they fail eventually. In my experience they start to leak where the quick disconnect fitting meets the slave body.

Everyone that I have had fail, started with the symptoms you describe. At least for me they kept working for a long time after that, weeks to a month even.

If you have to replace the slave (which is likely the problem), as said above, definitely buy the best replacement parts available. Its a job you want to do as few times as possible!!

This guy did a great video on the replacement project and hes fairly concise:


Also, do the master and the slave together, and bench bleed the whole system outside the truck on a bench, its much harder to bleed once installed. I have seen pre-bled kits for sale, used one once, it did not come well bled... luckily its easy enough to do yourself prior to installation. The following is a great video on how to do this:
At least this job is MILES better on a 2wd than on a 4wd. I did this job a total of four times on my old 94 2wd (cheap parts and a LOT of miles), by the end of it I could do the whole job in a few hours.

Feel free to pm me if I can help at all! -Chris

 

Ok thanks a lot everyone!