While I was trying to replace the clutch my Ranger truck, I pulled the shift stick out when the gear was on reverse. I tried to test it to make sure I was doing the right thing. I put the shift stick back in and I found out that the gear was locked. After that I read the manual, it said that I had to place the shift stick on manual which I didn't. Before I do anything else, what can I do?

I appreciate your help!

 

Welcome to FTE! I'll give it a shot here, although I'm slightly confused (don't worry, that's my normal state of mind!)

Is the trans still in the truck at this point, or do you have it out? If it's still in, you should be able to pull it out anyway and work on it where it's easier to get to everything, on a workbench, the tailgate of the truck, or the floor/ground.

So, by placing the transmission in manual, do you mean placing it in neutral?

When you say the gear is locked, do you mean you can't get it out of reverse, or is the trans itself locked up, meaning you can't turn the input or output shafts? If this is the case, then you have probably managed to engage a forward gear at the same time as reverse, which will lock it up. Assuming the trans is out of the vehicle, look down through the hole where the shift lever goes and you will see where the ball on the bottom of the lever engages the shifting forks. You should be able to move the forks back to the neutral position, if not with the shift lever then with a large screwdriver.

It may help to jiggle/twist the input shaft as you are moving the forks. If it just won't go, no matter what, you may have an internal trans problem. What year Ranger, and if you know, which transmission? -TD

 

Ok, thanks for answering.... The stick is stuck on reverse..... when trying to move the shift stick around it won't do it, it is completely stuck on reverse. The trans is still in the truck, 94 ranger single cab 5 speed trans,mazda m50d.Do you have any suggestions on how or what to unstuck it?

 

Have you already done the clutch and put the tranny back in, or are you still in the process of taking it apart? As I said, if you have the tranny out, it's easier to work on. Maybe you could try rocking the truck back and forth while trying shift it out of reverse, and look down through the shfter hole like I mentioned to see if the other forks are all lined up in the neutral position. Sorry I don't have a pic to show how they should look, can't find one in either of my manuals, but you should be able to see how the slots all line up when it's in neutral, and you should be able to figure out from the position of the shift lever which fork is for reverse, and try to work on that one directly with a large screwdriver or small prybar. Don't apply too much leverage, you don't want to break anything. -TD

 

No I just started on "my weekend project" @ 7:30am by removing the neg cable from the battery then I pulled the stick, but whe I put it back in I've notice that I couldn't put it back in neutral. ate breakfast watched a movie, and now is raining can you believe this! but I still have the rest of the afternoon,tomorrow sunday & monday
I'm going to post a pic. later on I will pull the tranny & we'll see.
thanks for your help
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ayz1819@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/85a0&.dnm=a8f4.jpg&.src=ph

 

Okay, I wouldn't worry about it till you get it out, then it's easier to work on. While it's out, you might want to replace the 3 rubber plugs at the top of the tranny, I've heard that you can get small metal soft plugs to drive in there. These plugs tend to go bad and allow fluid to leak out, causing the tranny to go bad prematurely. Do a search on this site and you will be sure to find some more info on this, it might even be in the tech info sticky at the top of this forum. Good luck, -TD