Greetigns and happy new year to all. Hope you're doing better than the last time I came for your help, and may the new year bring you more blessings.

I've been having a blast with my lil' Ranger. After all the work we've all put into it, it had been working great. did a 652 mile trip on it for my mom to see my brother, and there had been no trouble.

A few days ago, however, I noticed the shifting had been a bit whimsical. Sometimes when fully stopping in D, the trans wouldn't shift down to 1st gear, staying in 2nd instead, but mostly when I was going downhill so I thought nothing of it.

However, today after travelling a bit through a long road, I was driving 35 MPH when I had to overtake someone. I floored the throttle (which had normally forced a shift down) while I was in OD, 3rd gear.

Instead of going down to 2nd, it went all the way down to 1st. I quickly let off the pedal a bit so it'd shift up to 2nd and thought nothing of it. Made it back to the city and there were no problems. Was parked for two hours, then, when I drove off in D, I noticed it wouldn't go to 2nd gear. Shifting into 2 manually worked, and nothing else seems wrong.

I was wondering if I, as a novice enthusiast of sorts, could try checking some things before I go to my mechanic. Any advice will be helpful, and will be followed to the best of my ability.

Thanks in advance to everyone who helps and has helped me before. I've learned a lot (and saved a lot, too) thanks to you all, and I'm very grateful for that.

Best wishes to everyone.