hey, my dad owns a 1995(i think) ranger with the 4.0 and automatic. it also has 4-wheel drive. He was recently having problems with the tranny and he took the pan off and there was lots of shavings in there. so he has decided that if it is financially feasible that he wants to put in a five speed instead of doing a rebuild on the automatic.

now im a late model mustang guy and have done two auto to five speed conversions but im unfamiliar with rangers. i dont know what kind of auto tranny is in there now or what kind of five speed tranny is should be looking for. can you guys give me a list of what parts i need to complete this swap for him.

i know ill need the pedals, shifter, a five speed comp since the suto is computer comtrolled, the tranny itself, but would the transfer case still work? do i need a different driveshaft? do you know of any places that would have kits with everything i will need?

if there arent any places that offer swap kits i might just have to start scrounging around the junkyards looking for a five speed 4wd ranger and strip it of everything i might need.

any help you can give will be appreciated...thanks!

 

Let's see...A 1995 4.0L.Check here.It would be way too much trouble to convert it to a manual.Buying the transmission at that link or having his rebuilt are the best 2 options that you have money wise.

Good luck.

Nightrain

 

If the Mazda tranny wasn't such a POS in the pre-98 versions, I'd say swap to that.

It's not hard if you have a donor 4.0L manual trannied truck to swipe from.

You would need:

pedal assembly--any manual tranny truck would be fie in this case--pedals are pedals and bot in the same spot, of course.

driveshaft--maybe a necessity, since most auto trannies are longer than the stick trannies....

computer--not really a must in a stickshifter, but nice to have.

t-case might bolt up to both trannies just fine. I know for the most part, all 4x4 Ranger clones used the same t-cases. Hey, swap in a manual t-case if you can....

Your "kit" is the junkyard, my man.

P.S. Form my past experience, the wiring harness ought to be wired for the manual tranny already. 2 plugs: neutral start switch plug and reverse lioghts plug--waste of time to make a new harness for that!

 

as far as too much trouble goes, i dont really care. i like to do this type of stuff a lot.

so i think i might just start hitting the junkyards and see what i can find. if the wiring harness is wired for the manual already and the transfer case bolts up fine it should be easy.

if anyone else has some more input go ahead and let me have it. thanks again!

 

Don't get a manual tranny out of a Ranger! The manuals that came in Rangers factory (and that still do for that matter) have a bad reputation for not lasting very long.

I wonder if there is a conversion kit that would let you swap a T-5 or something like that into it?

 

are they really that bad?

 

The manual used in the Ranger is the Mazda M5OD. I see thread after thread on these boards and others where people are having problems with them. I test drove one before I bought mine and didn't like it at all (and I've owned manual tranny vehicles in the past).

 

well, i read about that article anout the plugs thatll cause it to leak fluid, and id fix that before i put it in of course. but what didnt you like about it when you test drove it. i dont understand how it could be that bad if ford has been using it for all these years.

dont take this the wrong way or anything, i just want to find out what exactly people dont like about this trans.

i dont want to give up on the idea of swapping in the manual unless i know there is a good reason not to, besides someone just telling me its a bad idea.

 

anyone?

 

Sure it would be nice to have a heavier duty transmission in the Ranger. Everybody likes overbuilt for off-road. But...if you can do this swap, beefing up the Mazda with the plug replacement ought to hold you pretty well. If it craps out, your know-how could have another one installed in no time. If the previous owner took care of the tranny at all, and the mileage on the donor wasn't excessive, you should be fine. I guess what I'm trying to say is, whatever problems you are likely to have with the Mazda will be alleviated somewhat by the hundreds of thousands of these tranny's available to you, the skilled mechanic. It's not like it's going to cost you an arm and a leg to have someone put it in for you.

 

The late model Rangers do have a little stronger version of the manual. It's the Mazda M5OD-HD. I think they are used in the 4.0L 4x4 trucks 2001-newer only. It would be nice to bolt one of those up, but I think the bolt pattern is a little different.

When I drove it, I didn't like the clutch action. And hearing all the trouble with them scares me. But if you do make the swap and use a OEM Ranger manual tranny, at least you know it'll bolt right up and won't be a tough job. Heck, give it a try and see how you like it.