i was jus wondering if anyone has had experience with converting a 5 speed standard to a 5 speed with overdrive or 6 speed. can i use the same transmission case just adding the link and the gear or do i have to replace the whole thing? any advice is appreciated.

 

If you are referring to your 06 they all had O/D stock. Whats your goal for added extra gears? If its purely for gas mileage then you'd be better off looking at a rearend regear much cheaper/ easier.

 

You would need to replace the whole thing if you want 6-speeds.
O/D is usually .75/1 ratio on a 4 or 5 speed, 6-speed is often .50/1, your 3.0l would have a hard time with that

You can add something like Gear Vendors under/over drive that bolts onto the back of the factory transmission(approx, $3,000).

Other options are re-gearing rear axle for your specific use(for better towing or better MPG at highway speeds), or switching to two speed rear axle(similar to the Gear Vender unit)

 

okay that was very helpful advice. it doesnt have the worst gas mileage in the world but highway doing like 70 its at like 3,000 rpm in 5th gear so i was looking to have another gear to go to to get better mileage. and i know there are models that come with it stock same engine and everything

 

for a 3.0 thats pretty normal i was averaging 17-18 highway stock now with manual trans and E-fan it averages about 20-21 depending on driving. If your looking for strictly MPG changing a trans would be the hardest/most expensive route and even then it probably would not yield the results your looking for. The 2 biggest bang for buck mpg mods on these trucks is rearend regear (check one of the online charts you can plug in tire size speed and desired RPM and it will spit out a gear set) just be aware that for more MPG you will sacrifice acceleration just the nature of it. Second throw a quality e-fan on for cooling instead of the crappy belt driven stock one reduces drag on the engine and can up the MPG.

 

4 speed + overdrive is stock, rangers never came with 6 forward speeds

If you are at 3,000 RPM at 70 MPH then you have a 4.56 ratio rear axle which is used for Towing at lower speeds not highway speed driving.

If you switched to a 3.73 ratio you would be at 2,450rpm at 70MPH
3.73 is OK for towing and commuting

3.55 ratio would be 2,300rpm at 70MPH

 

He's probably closer to 2800rpm those tachs aren't very accurate my scanner usually varies quite a bit from the tach. that would give him about a 4.10 thats the lowest the ranger came with stock.