Long story. I bought my kid an ‘02 Ranger recently, to be his first rig. Engine had issues when I got it, which was disclosed. I’ve been in process of swapping motors the last couple weeks. I changed out everything I could think of in the process - including clutch, pilot bearing, flywheel, and slave cylinder (w/ release bearing). Had issues bleeding the system after finishing the slave, so got a new master cylinder and bench bled it. Installed everything, then bled the slave without issue. Figured while I was doing all of that, o may as well do a new bushing kit at the interior shift assembly. Opened it up and found the old one all busted up and/or disintegrated. Pulled it out, peaked inside to make sure I didn’t see any other chunks of old bushing (I didn’t). Drained out old transmission fluid, and then refilled with fresh ATF while I had the shift assembly opened up. Installed new bushing kit and re-assembled it all. Upon completion, I ran through the gears to make sure all felt good. Well — this is where I’m struggling — from neutral I have no issues going through 1-4. But it doesn’t want to go into 5th or Reverse. I’ve tried everything I can think of. Have searched forums and YouTube to no avail. Has anyone ran into this and/or have suggestions for troubleshooting? I should mention that the engine swap hasn’t been finished up yet. So I don’t have ability to start the engine yet - but I can’t imagine that would effect my ability to progress thru all gears. Right?

My install of the clutch kit went smooth, no issues. Can’t think of any reason it’d be giving me these issues. Anyone have any input?

 

The M5OD-R1(M5R1) is a 5 speed with reverse so will have 3 shift rails
1-2
3-4
5-R

Pull out the shifter again
When you look down in the shifter hole you can see the 3 shift rails and the slot on each that the lower shifter arm moves forward or back to select a single gear
When the 3 slots are lined up in the center of the hole that's Neutral, and if shifter was in place you could move it back and forth as it can slide between all 3 slots/shift rails

If all 3 slots were not lined up(Neutral) when you reinstalled the shifter then you can't shift into all gears, because shifter's slot for that pair of gears is not accessible to shifter

So check if all 3 slots are lined up in the center, Neutral
You can move a shift rail slot with a screwdriver to center it, forward or back
Once all 3 slots are in the right place reinstall shifter and see if all gears are available

 

RonD

Thanks for the reply. I’m sure I’m in neutral already, as I can go left to right with the shift ****, and can go from 1 through 4 without issue. It just feels as though I can’t go far enough right to push up into 5th or down to Reverse. When I look down into the transmission opening I can also see the slot that the shift knuckle (or whatever the terminology is) sits in, and there are two cylindrical pegs (for lack of a better term), one on either side of that slot. Does that make sense?

QUOTE=RonD;2228493]The M5OD-R1(M5R1) is a 5 speed with reverse so will have 3 shift rails
1-2
3-4
5-R

Pull out the shifter again
When you look down in the shifter hole you can see the 3 shift rails and the slot on each that the lower shifter arm moves forward or back to select a single gear
When the 3 slots are lined up in the center of the hole that's Neutral, and if shifter was in place you could move it back and forth as it can slide between all 3 slots/shift rails

If all 3 slots were not lined up(Neutral) when you reinstalled the shifter then you can't shift into all gears, because shifter's slot for that pair of gears is not accessible to shifter

So check if all 3 slots are lined up in the center, Neutral
You can move a shift rail slot with a screwdriver to center it, forward or back
Once all 3 slots are in the right place reinstall shifter and see if all gears are available[/QUOTE]

 

here’s a photo in addition to my last reply.

 

It looks like its in Neutral

The slot on the left in the picture is 5 if back and R if forward, its backwards because if the top of shifter arm is moved forward then that moves the shifter slot back because of pivot point
Center slot 3 and 4
Right slot 1 and 2

You can only move 1 slot at a time, try moving them all forward and back one at a time

 

RonD

How can I buy you a beer?!?! You saved my ***!! I checked each gear as you suggested and realized I could manually engage each gear. So I put stick back in and still no dice. That made no sense, which made me second guess my shifter orientation. I assumed it was machined in a way that would only allow the knuckle to drop in when correctly oriented. Well, that’s not the case! I flipped it around, reinstalled everything, and I’ve got engagement with all 5 gears and reverse!! You’re a life saver man, truly!!!!!

 

Good work and thanks for posting THE FIX, it will help someone else

And honestly I didn't know it could go in backwards, so it helped me

 

LOL. I’m glad I was at least able to offer a lesson in what NOT to do. 🤣 Thank you again - been scratching my head and going crazy on this for about three days now.

 

[/QUOTE]