I have a 03 Aviator that I bought around 4 years ago, I bought it cheap because the transmission was not working properly, my original Intention was to pull the engine to use in a Mustang I have. When I got it home and got to looking closely at it I found that it was in really good shape (I live in the rust belt) and I couldn't bring myself to cannibalize it. After driving it around my yard for a while I decided to try to drive it as a winter vehicle. The transmission worked good in 1st and 2nd, 3rd would just free spin but if it got rolling fast enough in 2nd and then let off the throttle and wait, it would shift into 4th and then 5th fine. I put a few thousand miles on it the first winter I had it, left it parked until this winter and started driving it again. I put a few more thousand miles on it so far this winter and it had been working the same since I got it until the other morning, I had driven it into my parking spot after driving it for an hour or so and shut it off. The next morning I jumped in it to go to work and it wouldn't move, not drive, reverse or any of the lower gears.
I knew it was on borrowed time since I got it but it seemed odd to just quit like that, I did check the cable and it is moving the lever on the transmission. I have a good spare trans in a Mountaineer but I'm going to wait for some nicer weather to deal with it.