I have 3.0 V6 04 Ranger with 205k miles on it. I can shift the lever into drive but have to press the gas pretty far to get the truck to suddenly jolt into drive. It's a rough shift to get into drive but it eventually does it. This rarely happens, but is concerning. The fluid is clean and at a good level. Any thoughts what could be causing this? It won't shift into any gear without the jolting either. After that, the shifting is perfectly smooth.

 

The solution to this was my rear passenger drum brake had completely failed (springs broke, etc) and was sticking and preventing the wheels from turning. Rebuilt the drum and this fixed it.

 

Thought for sure this was a Tranny issue; NOT!
Thanks for the fix update.