I gave my son a 95 F150 4.9l 5spd 4x4 for college graduation a couple years ago. He likes the truck but the Mazda transmission has been an expensive pain in the rear. 11 months ago the transmission tower failed and 3rd gear synchro was gone so I installed a rebuilt tranny and replaced all clutch parts to the tune of $2400. Warranty on the transmission was good for 6 months and now at 11 months the transmission has developed a loud whine in the top three gears when under load, with the noise being worst in 3rd. Along with the whine it also developed a vibration in the shift lever. All this started with a clunk in the tranny. We are about to pull the tranny and tear it down but I'm fearing rebuilding the Japanese POS will be out of my league even though I've been wrenching for 40 years and have done transmissions before. Any advice would be appreciated. But, on to my real question. Did Ford use a different transmission behind the 8 cylinder engines and if they did how difficult would it be to replace the Mazda with one of them on the 6? We have access to an older F150 4.9 with a 4 speed but I would like to retain the overdrive and closer gear spacing of a 5 speed. Conversion to an automatic would be considered as well but I'd want OD and locking torque converter.

Larry
95 F250 PSD 4x4 with lots of goodies.

 

Larry ,
My F150 has the M5OD . First time I saw it I thought this thing is going to be trouble ...Knock on wood 163K miles later it has been a solid transmission . Sounds like the bearings are dying or have died on yours . The ZF transmission was also used and Ive not seen or heard too many problems with it either . Ive always used Mobil 1 Syn tranny fluid in my trans , the synchronizers do well with it , I had some discussions with other techs at the time I initially changed it to Mobil 1 about the synthetic being too slick for the synchronizers , but I never noticed any difference .Something I have noticed with this trans being that it uses a lot of RTV to seal it is that over use of the RTV can block oil passages to the front input shaft bearing . Did you do the other rebuild or someone else ? Ive seen some people go nuts with the RTV thinking more is better . The M5OD isnt any worse to rebuild than any other trans althought transmissions have never been my favs . Wish I had more info to help .
Paul

 

i dont know i had a f-150 1988 4x2 pick up truck with the mazda manual tranny and i got it from my father when it had 88000 miles on it with the original clutch and tranny. i never touched it or changed the tranny fluid. when i got rid of it it had 290,000 miles on it. the guy i sold it to is still driving it with original mazda tranny and clutch. now i have a 1995 f-150 4x4 manual and i believe the tranny is the same as the 1988. i think the transmisions are durable because the 1988 my father towed a boat with it.i hope now that i dont have problems with it now. (knock on wood).

 

 

I have changed this mazda M5OD to a more durable ZF trans
you will need
-ZF trans from a 5.0 or 5.8 liter engine
-all hydraulic clutch parts (master,slave,hose ect...)
-shift lever
-maybe trans mount (cant remeber that one)
-also might have to put a clutch I cant remeber if the spline is different

other than that it will bolt right in no need to change drive shafts or anything although the only conversions I have done were on 4X4's t-case also bolts right up
I think the shifter comes throught the floor at the right spot too..

 

Remember to look at the dates on posts before you reply. That thread was over four years old.

 

I thought it meant he joined 4 years ago but posted yesterday?