I have a 1993 ranger with a 3.0 and a 5spd tranny, 2wd, reg cab, short bed. I have read bad things about the m5R1 manual tranny they put in the rangers. My tranny has been getting hard to shift into second and third so I changed the fluid and no improvement. My question is how do I tell if I have a M5R1 or some other tranny. I found a label above the fill plug on the drivers side and the number was F27A. Does this tranny have the same problems as the M5R1? I am thinking of replacing because of the hard shifting and it is leaking fluid badly. Can someone tell me how much one of these costs and where is the best place to buy them? Sorry for the long post. Thanks Bob

 

Iam pretty sure you have the r1 tranny and so do I and I hate it. When I first bought mine it wouldnt just go in to gear, I had to play from gear to gear to get it in, Then it eventully got really bad and started making a dry bearing spinning noise in fifth, then eventully got stuck in first permenantly. I spent 1800 dollars rebuilding it,If you can with a 3.0 I would look at a t5 conversion,I know you can with a 4.0. Hopefully you can get a remanufactured r1 for cheap that will work good,I think they are over 1400.