I have a friend that is getting a Ranger soon that has a manual transmission and she She doesn't know how to drive a manual. She asked me how she would know when to shift. I tried to tell her that she would learn to feel or listen when to shift(she them had a lok of a little fear in her eyes like oh no). I told her there might be a light n the dash that would tell her when to shift, but I didn't know for sure. I have seen them on some Chevy truck, but I didn't know about the Ranger.

Is there an idiot light that tell you when to shift?

Thanks - Mike

 

no... you just play by ear if you dont have a tach.. but if you have a tach just follow it. My dad taught me to shift at 2k rpms when i was first learning stick.

 

ya, i have a manual and i would say between 2000 and 3000.....

 

I was hoping I would be able to tell her there was a light. I thought it would just make it a little easier on her, Oh well.

 

Yeah, no shift light. A ford focus I almost bought had one, but the Ranger does not. The manual will tell you to shift at different speeds and which ones you should shift at. I usually shift between 2000 and 2500 rpms unless I need to be somewhere, and then all bets are off. Between 2k and 2500 rpms gives me the best economy without making me feel like I drive like a grandma.

 

No tach for me so I play it all by ear and what feels right... I looked in my manual to see what it said about shifting... it said I should be in 5th by the time I get to like 44 mph or something (with my 3.75's).... no freaking way... talking about lugging an engine... even with stock tires...

 

Never understood why ford would put a stick in a ranger with no tach or shift light.

 

I do fine w/o it.... it would be kinda nice to have sometimes, like if there's another car along side me and I hear their car, not mine... but other than that... on and off-road, I'm fine w/o it...

 

all depends on the vehicle.....before my first ranger got totaled by a drunk, i was shifting that at about 2k i believe, same with my 94 now.

but my civic i shift about 3500, completely stock, i am not into that ricing garbage, though a nice revving machine.

 

i have a stick shift, but i also have the tach in mine. if u look in the owners manual it tells u the speed to shift at. i tried and man it sux. i usually shift between 2000 and 2500.

 

Thanks for all the help guys, I would kinda like to know a little about the truck she is getting, but she isn't even sure yet.

 

yet she is getting it? doesnt make sense? i would have some input on the decision. lol

 

She doesn't really have a choice. I think her parents are getting it for her and she will have to learn how to drive it. I am guessing that is is a friend or family members truck if they already know the some of the specifics on it. It is still a little ways down the road though.

 

all the info on shifting is in the owner's manual. i started shifting like the manual said and got nearly 22 mpg. sucked because i had no power but with the price of gas unless i'm intentionally racing someone i try not to get on it. but just following the manual i got 21.9 i believe on the mpg.

 

you can always just learn on the truck...depending on here common sense she shouldnt really destroy the clutch at all..

 

I had an XL w/ a manual trans and no tach. Takes some getting used to not having a tach. But in my experience all fairly late model Rangers have rev limiters on the engines.. so you really can't do that much damage. Also in both the 2.5L I4 I had in the '99 and the 4.0L V6 I have now you can totally feel when you are done w/ the power band.. In the XL it was painfully obvious when the engine was out of revs and wanted the next cog.

Never made much sense to me either, no tachs in the base-model manual equipped trucks.. yet there is a tach in the base-model auto equipped trucks.. WTF!

 

Every ford I've ever had has a tach w/ an auto tranny and no tach w/ a manual tranny. Geniuses. My buddies focus has those stupid lights. I'd be like pshhhhh and tear those suckers out, tell me when to shift f*ck that...lol

I guess they'd be cool if you had no idea what you're doing with a manual though.

 

I once had a VW that had both the tach AND the light. The light was for 'optimum fuel economy' or some foolishness. I ened up putting tape over it because it was just anoying. The thing would invariably go on when you were in 4th at 35 MPH about to go up a 1/2 mile long 8% grade.. Uh yeah, perfect time to up-shift.. thanks!

Then again, if gas were $3/gal back then, I probably would have listened to the stupid little light more often..

 

I learned to drive a 5-speed with my 2004 Ranger it wasnt that scary. It had a tach so I shifted between 2500 & 3000, it had no shift light.

The Jeep has the lil shift light but I dont go by it because it comes on at the wrong times, like at 1500 or 2000 RPMs

 

Actually on the first gen Rangers a shift light was aparently an option. I was not aware of this but when I removed instrument bezel the area on it where the brake light is also has one that says shift in it. It may get hooked bck up someday, just depends what I end up having to do with the speedometer. If I can get it fixed it probably won't get hooked up, but if I put in an autometer speedo and tach in dash I'm going to figure out some way to do it. I also never understood why some of the manual trans rangers never came with a tach, but I learned to do it by sound.