First off want to say hey. I do all the maintence on my family's farm and have come across a problem with our field runner. The ranger is an 84 model with a 2.0 2wd. 4speed straight shift. recently replaced the clutch and found out that the clutch arm or clutch fork as i call it is broken. Okay so no problem right? WRONG!!!!! Ford seems to no longer make this part and noone else does either. called here in GA. also called to Cali. to Ford Obsolete Parts. No luck there either. So does any one know what tranny from a later model will swap in to aleviate this problem. Ford says that the tranny is a TK model. But they don't seem to know who the manufacturer is or any other info. all i could find on the casing is a R4 cast into the lower left rear or the housing. Please any help would be awsome. Thanks.

Our farm vehicles list as so:
96 F-250 diesel 7.3 non trubo. extended cab 4x4
84 Ranger 2.0 2wd regular cab 4speed
2 John Deere Tractors the 9320 series one with front end loader


Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

First up, welcome to FTE and the Ranger board!

The 2.0L I believe shares a bellhousing bolt pattern with the later 2.3L. That being said, you're gonna need a 4x4 tranny, which you'll be hardpressed to find with the 2.3L, as they weren't made for long.

Now assuming you can, the M5OD (Mazda 5 speed with OverDrive) should be a direct swap in, however it not having a removable bellhousing means you have to get one from the 2.3L which will create problems.

Hopefully someone can provide a little more info as to the years the 2.3L came with 4x4.

 

The 2.0 and 2.3 bolt pattern should be the same, so get an M5OD 5-speed from an 88 to 2000 ranger 4 cylinder. I'm no expert on this but I believe they will bolt with little if any problem as the 2.0, 2.3 and 2.5 are all lima's. The M5OD is still being produced today, so parts availability shouldn't be a problem for a long time.

 

The issue is he'll need one from a 4x4 to mate up to his transfer case.

And the 2.3L with 4x4 isn't exactly common.

 

He doesn't have a 4x4 according to his sig, and the his post, he should have no problem finding a 2wd M5OD out of a 4 cylinder ranger.

 

Oh wow...don't I feel stupid...I've been reading the F-250's 4x4 onto the Ranger.


ANYWAYS, Wendell nailed it, M5OD out of any four banger Ranger or Mazda B2300/2500, which are quite plentiful.

 

The TK stands for Toyo Kogyo, an industrial manufacturing company owned by Mazda that produced transmissions for Ford Rangers in the '80's. The TK4 is rare, finding a 4spd will be your hardest part. ANY TK4 will do, but unfortunately all of them used external slave cylinders like yours. A TK5 from a newer truck should bolt in, but I don't know if your bellhousing will work with the internal slave setup used on the newer TK5's. The M5OD will fit, but the trans crossmember will be off, the hole for the shifter will not line up, the clutch line wont work, and you'll have to get the driveshaft yoke to fit the M5OD since it's different than the TK. The easiest way is probably to find a 4cyl 2wd new enough to have an internal slave ('85-'87), get the bellhousing, slave, and clutch line from the master cylinder, all this should bolt up to your TK4, and will allow you to update to the newer setup while retaining your trans and master cylinder. It may not be a bad idea to invest in a new slave cylinder, since you have to pull the trans to replace the internal slave. If you really want to just install a new fork, PM me, I know a guy willing to part out a truck w/a 2.3l TK4, it's an '84 so it should have an external slave setup, the bellhousing is broken around the starter, but the fork is good AFAIK.

EDIT: I made the same mistake as RangerPilot, the facts remain the same though.

 

Before you consider the effort and expense of the swap out, would a check with some salvage yards also perhaps be a potential solution?

 

Hey guys thanks for all the help and pulled the tranny down again yesterday found a fork from a guy here that does engine rebuilds got it free (the best price!!) well while i had it down got to looking at some things. HA HA seems the original owner swaped in a tranny from an 85 so the clutch is a lil different too. So back to the parts store. well lets see if this goes a lil better this time. And also i still want to look into a 5spd swap. What fab work will be needed to go over to the internal slave cylinder? cutting in a new hole for the tranny won't be that big a deal. and does any one know how much the trany cross member holes are off I can fix just wondering so I'll be ready. Want to complete the process in a day 2 at the most. I work fairly quickly. can remove the stock tranny if like 30 to 45 min. well any help thanks

 

The Toyo was made in both 4/5 spd. AFAIK you should be able to bolt in a TK5 where a TK4 used to be, and hook everything up directly. To swap to internal slave, you'll need the correct bellhousing (on the new 5spd trans you want), the slave, and the correct hydraulic line from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder. The problems you could run into would be trying to make the swap over to the newer (88-up) Mazda M5OD R1, which is similar, but not the same. To do this, you'll need to move the crossmember, change the yoke on the driveshaft, cut a new hole for the shifter, and the clutch hydraulic line will have to be custom built since they use totally different connections. To upgrade to a 5spd, I would STRONGLY recommend you find a TK5. The main thing to be aware of in the vintage you are searching for is the Mitsubishi FM145 transmission that was also used. This trans was found more commonly in 4x4 V-6's, and does not replace the TK directly, getting this trans will give you a headache. To tell the difference look at the "pan" or cover plate on the bottom of the trans. The TK has a ribbed aluminum "pan", the Mistubishi has a stamped steel "pan". Hope this helps you.

 

Smitty, your knlowledge pf ranger transmissions is obvious, but you tend to be to detailed to a degree. In simple laymens terms, what parts are needed to swap to a 5-speed without mentiomimg a dozen different trannies, I know I'm slow, but in laymens terms, you think he should go with a TK5, correct ? Where can the TK5 be found and what would it take to swap the TK5 in place of the TK4, "parts list". The poster may have gotten it, but you sorta lost me (thats not hard to do). I would like to know for further reference, also I believe your trying to say that it's not to feasable to swap in the M5OD because it takes alot of work, correct ? "Sorry", I know your really smart on this subject, but I'm not. I didn't realize it would be so complicated to swap in a M5OD, thanks for the info, I can see your our go to guy for ranger tranny questions.

 

Wendell, I am far from a transmission guru, I've just spent a lot of time researching the different transmissions and setups used in Gen-1 Rangers/Bronco II's. I am saying that the TK5 is an easier swap, because AFAIK it would be a direct bolt-in. If he gets the trans from an '85-'87 that has an internal slave cylinder setup, he'll need to get the hydraulic line from the master cylinder to the slave, to meet the new coupler. Other than that the TK5 SHOULD directly replace his TK4. I get carried away, I apolagize, most of the information I posted wasn't really relevent, I tend to try to anticipate questions, and end up just creating confusion. And swapping to an M5OD is a great idea, the M5 is a great trans, it's just not his easiest option (and admittedly I have a soft spot for the Toyo Kogyo transmission...).

 

Thanks Smitty, I got ya, so to swap to a TK5 , he basically would just need a new hydro line and it's a direct bolt in, where as the M5OD is a bit more complicated, but could be done. Also the TK5 must have the internal slave cylinder. Your ok, I just confuse easy. I'm glad you took the time to explain it to me, these are good things to know for future reference, thanks again and have a happy thanksgiving !!!!!!

 

"O", one other thing, I allway thought that all 5 speeds were the M5OD where as the TK4 was the 4-speed. Thanks for setting me straight, now I know they made a TK4, 4-speed and a TK5, 5-speed, all 5-speeds aren't M5OD's, you've been a big help,"thanks".