Hey, I've been stuck in a corner for a little while since I bought my ranger, it's missing second gear and the stick is very lose, was wondering if it's not so bad if I'm able to get a donor truck that I could swap the engine, trans, and rear end, also know you have to change the pcm but what else is involved also the transmission is progressively getting harder to shift and mostly want the mpg

 

Welcome to the forum

Year of Ranger matters ALOT

Changing the power train does require engine/transmission combo swap and yes the PCM and its wiring harness for that engine also needs to be swapped
Don't need a different rear axle even with V8 swap

2.5l Lima was only used 1998 to mid-2001 so 4.0l Ranger in those years would be best

Wiring is usually the stumbling block for most people as wires are year and engine size specific, so not at all plug and play when changing engine sizes, more cut and splice, lol

If you are not doing a V8 swap then it really is more cost, and time, effective to sell what you have, and buy what you want
Factory 4cyl can be repaired with "off the shelf" parts
Factory V6 converted to 4cyl requires custom parts depending on what needs repair, i.e. hard for parts store to look up 1998 Ranger 4.0l thermostat for 2.5l engine, lol

You CAN do any conversion you want, but it will be a labor of love not to save money


Current transmission(M5OD-R1) could just have worn out shifter bushings, article here: https://www.therangerstation.com/Mag...bushings.shtml
Not hard to fix

"Harder to shift" can just be some air in the hydraulic clutch system, needs to be bled

Best MPG comes with O2 sensors that are less than 10 years old or have less than 100k miles on them
O2 sensors are the ONLY sensors that wear out, they run out of chemicals, same as batteries do, they last at most 12years or 100k miles which ever comes first, after that MPG starts to drop slowly

 

Well I was going to try and replace the trans and clutch but can't seem to find a transmission for it, the mpg problem is probably the O2 sensors but it doesn't throw a code for it, I noticed it went slowly down hill 2 weeks after I bought it second gear made a loud grinding sound and now became a second neutral lol also its a 96 ohv 4.0 found a sohc 2wd trans but the starter is on a different side the guy told me

 

1990 to 2011 4.0l OHV and 4.0l SOHC Rangers used the same engine block so same bellhousing bolt pattern, starter is NOT on the other side

As said you would have to change the tail shaft housing if "new" trans was from a 1998 and up 4.0l, OHV or SOHC wouldn't matter, your 1996 needs a VSS hookup that's on your current tail shaft housing