have a 1995 Ford Ranger 4WD with a 4.0 V6 engine. It has a 5 speed and it shifts hard. After 3 or 4 miles it gets better, but not like it should. A friend of mine who owns a garage rebuilt it. He put in all new bearings, synchronizers, clutch, pressure and throw out bearing. It has an automatic transmission oil in it. It shifts better if you shift slow, kind of hesitate when putting in the next gear, but if your in a hurry you can't always do that.
Does any one have any ideas what the problem might be?
Thanks
drifter22@americaseagle.net

 

The Ranger has a hydraulic clutch, right? Maybe your clutch fluid resevoir is low, or leaking. I had that problem on my '92 F-150. Check that out and let us know what you find.

 

If it shifts better after warming up then one of your problems is you might have the wrong type of atf in the tranny. If the atf is too thick it won't shift right until the tranny is at operating temp.

what type of fluid is the guy putting in the tranny?

 

Thanks for the reply. The reservoir is full and has been bled. I'm not sure what kind of transmission fluid he put in, but it is red. I just pulled the shifter out and it looked good what I could see. I read one post where the plastic socket was worn and the pins were loose. It all looked brand new and he said he did replace them. I don't know what to try next.

 

I had that problem when I first got my 99. I started using DOT Approved brake fluid instead of atf and haven't had any problems since...that is if it's a hydraulic

 

The first thing I do when I take delivery of a new vehicle is to dump the ATF. Ford uses this stuff because it is, theoretically, supposed to deliver better mileage. Balderdash!

Using a premium synthetic gear oil will smooth the shifting considerably and provides the transmission parts with a far higher level of protection.

My favorite gear oil is by SynLube. It has a viscosity index of 190 which makes it far more resistant to temperature meaning you should get better shifting immediately upon startup.

Redline, Amsoil and Mobil 1 also provide good offerings.

 

Super bad advice. The mazda 5 speed can not handle gear lube or syn gear lube. Stick with MERCON ATF or equivalent

 

SOunds like he didn't R&R the slave cyl or possibly the pilot bearing. Both can cause the problem you describe. Find out if he did. Another is that the system need to be bled again as it could have some air still in the system. These are the worst sytems for bleeding due to the master cyl location which allows air to collect in the upper passage. I have a way to bleed the master that works well and is easy to do, let me know and Ill post for ya.

Hank

 

tHANKS FOT THE REPLY. HE DID REPLACE THE SLAVE CYLINDER AND THROW OUT BEARING. I PROBABLY SHOULD BLEED THE THING AGAIN. IF YOU HAVE A SLICK WAY I WOULD APPRECIATE IT

 

Somewhere you've got drag in the transmission. Either oil or clutch-related would be most likely. Are you sure the clutch is cleanly disengaging? If the mainshaft is still spinning slightly due to clutch drag, the syncro collar has to overcome that extra speed on the input shaft to get the syncro rings on the selected gear on the cluster shaft to match that speed. Hence hard shifts. Test: with the transmission hot (rule out oil as a variable here), engine running with trans in neutral, truck not moving, push the clutch pedal in and shift into first gear. Don't release the clutch. Does the driveshaft want to turn noticeably i.e., take up the slack in the ring/pinion? If so, the input shaft is trying to spin, which to me means clutch drag. I tried this test on my '95 Ranger with 176K miles and the output shaft did not turn - even though the oil was cool at ambient temp of about 85 deg. To see if oil is the culprit, drain and put in another oil - such as Mobil1 synthetic ATF. It is approved for both Dextron and Mercon applications. I put it in my '00 Expedition because I tow. It's not cheap, but your only going to use 3 qts. When you drain the oil, put your finger in the drain opening and see if there are any abnormal metal shavings laying in the bottom (actually, I think there is a magnet on the drain plug). I drained mine about a month ago with about 60k miles on the oil, and there was very little in it, and it appeared to be all fine brass particles coming from the syncros as would be expected. There shouldn't be any ferrous metal particles to speak of. If none of this helps, my guess is that there is a bearing misaligned inside the tranny, probably on the countershaft - but I haven't had this type of tranny (Mazda) apart, so It's just a guess. I also have a'03 Ranger, 4.0, 5 speed, x-cab, FX4, with 800 miles on it and it shifts a little harder than my '95, but still very smooth.

 

A synthetic gear lube for a manual transmission IS the best solution to getting the best performance out of an manual transmission. For example, the Ford has used ATF, motor oil and gear oil in the Focus MTX-75 manual transmission. Gear oil was recommended for Focus production in Europe because of the high speeds there and later here when the ATF didn't hold up well enough. The Mazda transmission will handle gear lube just fine. There will be significantly less wear on the synchronizers as well.

When I had my '90 Ford Ranger, I switched to gear oil and noticed smoother shifting and never had a bit of trouble with the transmission. Just because the advice doesn't correspond to Ford recommendations doesn't mean it's invalid and should be rejected out of hand.

 

Well I had a chance to change the oil. I put in Quaker State synthetic ATF. It said it was good to replace all the manufactures oils. I don't think it helped a bit

 

Gear oil is too slippery for the syncros, and will wear the gears more. ATF has friction enhancers. Stick with ATF, It is what the manufacture requires. I recently had My ZF 5 speed tranny rebuilt. I asked the mechanic if gear oil was ok, He said he wouldnt warranty it. He said use good ATF and change it every 15,000 miles.

 

On my Stang, many people were having trouble with the Mobil 1 Synthetic that Ford puts in as the stock fill (1-2 clunk, grinding). It turns out that Tremec (the tranny manufacturer) reccomends Texaco Dexron III with .6 qts less than Ford fills it. So ATF in a manual is not that weird of an idea.

 

ATF has never been recommended for the MTX 75 transmission. Your 90 2.9 Ranger almost certainly had a Mitsubishi transmission which was also never supposed to have ATF. No wonder they both shifted better with gear oil than the ATF they weren't supposed to have.

ATF is the proper lubricant for a roller bearing transmission like the Mazda. Running gear oil will damage it in short order. Switching to gear oil is hazardous advice. There are plenty of examples of damaged transmissions from running the incorrect fluid.