Hi, my 1st post here.... was an auto tech for 18 years (ASE master) mostly undercar (alignments/brakes/suspension) but have worked on every aspect of cars and trucks over the years. 2 years ago changed jobs now in industrial maintenance (millwright at a steel mill to be exact) do alot of overhead crane work now. Anyways i still do cars/trucks on the side when I can.
Here goes my problem (warning; will be a long post)
I have a neighbor that has a 95, 4.0 Ranger 4X4 with a 4 spd auto trans. This truck has about 210K miles on it, still runs well, uses no oil. He uses it to go on about a 650 mile round trip (all highway) once or twice a month to his fishing cottage. The tranny has been acting up "for over 100K" as he says, it finally got bad enuf (in his eyes) to replace. Old one slipped badly between 2-3 shift for the most part that was the worst. Now its just plain wore out and needs a rebuild. So he went and bought a 4.0 motor/trans/t case from a private party out of the local classifieds just for the trans. This was out of a 95 Exploder that was totalled in a wreck (T boned)
I seperated the donor trans from its engine and proceeded to swap it into the Ranger. I used the orig t case that was in the truck. While it was out I pulled the pan and t converter, drained the converter in a pan for like 3 days and replaced the filter and gasket. I also replaced the range selector switch with the one from the orig trans because the one on the replacement trans was busted nearly in 2. As it is slotted, I put it on roughly in the middle of the slots. I put it in the truck (getting that converter re engaged was a royal pain, but I am COMPLETELY sure that I got it there. Had to "pull up" the converter to the flywheel, absolutely no binding; Ive made that mistake before) I also flushed the cooler and lines while the trans was out with an areosol product that I got from a local rebuilder, especially made for trans coolers,. (looks like a can of fix a flat, screwed onto the line fitting) Upon putting the trans in I put 6 qts of ATF in then started the truck. Still low, added 2 more. Then it showed over but I believe that it just hadnt all run down the dipstick/fill tube. (especially as the owners manual says it holds 10 qts)
Put the truck in gear, IT WON'T MOVE! As you can tell by my user name I am not all up on all of Ford's unique quirks. IT IS pumping fluid as I pulled the upper cooler line at the rad while running to verify. Now when I 1st tried it the O/D Off light started flashing regardless of where the engegement button was. I also had a P1701 code which I dont remember the exact wording but it was something to do with a reverse shift error. I then shut it down and adjusted the range switch all the way clockwise. OD button (at least the light) now works normal, no more code, but it still wont move. While in there I did a ton of other work on the truck; full tuneup, R&R'd manifolds to extract the busted Y pipe studs, front brakes, added WARN manual lockouts, radius arm bushings (x member had to come out to get the trans out anyway)
also replaced the rusted away/missing rear spring hangers and shackles; the springs were just resting against the bed! The guy just bought a brand new Ranger last year and wants to keep this one as a beater so as not to beat up his new one that he paid $24K for; the 95 has been long paid for and has been good to him, says it dont owe him a thing its worth putting $$$ into and wants a spare for when the kids come asking for Dads truck cuz thers is broke; you guys all know what I mean there! So, before I pull this trans again, what is there that can be checked with it still in the truck (a brain fart that I might have missed!?) YES all the wiring is hooked up fully and correctly.
I did have trouble while trying to engage the converter with the seal ring on the stator support. I wound up with it becoming dislodged and had to fish it out of the converter nose with long needle nose pliers. I then took the one off the orig trans and put it on there. Once I finally got the converter all the way in I pulled it out again to be sure the seal ring stayed; it did so (again) I put the converter back in. Im fairly confident its still there since I pulled the converter off and it stayed the 1st time. I also had the input shaft out, and put the converter in and out a couple times w/o the input shaft in place then reinstalled the input shaft before getting the converter to engege and "go back" in the bellhousing. I did have to lightly tap the input shaft to get it to go in
I never got to see/hear the replacement motor/trans work, the fluid was a little dirty but I have seen way worse; no shavings/glitter in the old fluid (like the cooked syrup that was in the orig trans!) and in my Ram when I smoked that one plowing last winter. Did the neighbor just get a bum unit??? I sure hope not!
I have worked in a couple dodge dealers in the late 80s/early 90s, so on mine, I was able to completely rebuild and beef up myself. We do still have the orig trans from the Ranger that he had planned on taking in for a bench rebuild *if* his "cheap fix/used trans" idea flopped. HELP!!!!!

 

Welcome to FTE.

Well I'm no tranny guy, but maybe start with making sure the tranny fluid level is right.

These trannys are known to have valve body seal problems & there s a valve body rework link in our "Tech Info" thread, located atop this forums thread listng page
that might be useful, if you come to think that might be a source of your no shift problem.

Also lots of other helpful Ranger repair info there.

You might post this question on the FTE tranny forum, bet they would have some good input, if you don't get any input here.

Maybe it's worth a call to the guy he bought the engine/tanny combo from & see if he was having any problems with it, that might offer up a clue or two.

Will be interesting to hear what you find.

Just some thoughts to ponder.

 

Based on the reply from paw paw, would it be better if this post were moved??? Could one of the moderators please do so for me if that is the case? THANKS, Don

 

*bump* Help!!!!

 

From what i have read in you post you did say it is pumping fluid so the torqe converter should be in all the way. Though you never said anything about checking to see if the transfer case was engageing. When changeing everything it could be between high & low range, try switching between high & low and see what happens.

Also check the shift linkage itself for proper movement. If the nuetral safety switch was broken the shift shaft that goes through it could be broken in the transmission.

Thats all i can think of.

 

I re used the same transfer case that was originally in the truck, the one that came with the motor/trans is laying under the bench. Would there be a different spline count between a Ranger and an Explorer of the same year? Is there a difference in solenoids, etc?

 

I wouldn't trust the old range switch. It could have caused the original problems by sending bad info to the ECM. But I'm not sure it would keep the truck from moving period. Can you get any output or movement, like with the rear axle on jack stands?

 

First, I don't know anything about transmissions and really can't offer much help. But I was so intrigued by your post, hoping to learn something by following your thread. I went to the transmission forum as pawpaw suggested hoping to follow it there but didn't see it. But while there, I did find this thread which seemed similar and might be helpful to you. I wish I could offer more. Good luck. Pat

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...gine-swap.html

 

Nope wont even try. Like its in neutral all the time. The old range switch worked fine with the old trans. Im gonna pull the pan and check the internal linkage and go from there. Thanks.

 

nothing on jack stands, havent touched the truck in a week or so, (lots of OT at work) but Im thinking of swapping the electrical plug/solenoids between the old and "new" trannys before I yank it again. Its eating at me but the trucks owner keeps telling me hes not in a hurry as long as he has his 4WD back before the snow flies.
He has a buddy who "has been doing nothing but trannys for like 30 years" or something like that (but his "buddy" shot him a price that he thought was too high for a rebuild on the orig one). His buddy says that (hasnt looked at it, its my job, Id rather not get too many hands in there if u know what I mean) its either a bad torque converter or I forgot the input shaft. I know that not to be the case since I purposely pulledthe converter an extra time and reinstalled it just to be sure it was there. I'm thinking it may be the pressure solenoid. We will ses these nites after work this week!

 

OK, guys, I havent been on here in a while. I broke my leg, had surgery and a rod put in my shin and therefore had to take an unscheduled break from this job. my neighbor pulled the replacement trans and sent the original one in for a rebuild; a planetary set had blown up and taken out a section of the case which also makes up the top half of the valve body. So we took the replacement in as a case donor and guess what; a STUCK VALVE in the valve body! Thats all that was keeping the replacement trans from working. I was hoping to pull the pan and check for that before pulling the trans the 2nd time but I just got clearance to start putting wt on my leg again after 2+ months. I will say, though, I put the trans back in the 2nd time and it went in alot quicker than it did the 1st time! It now runs/drives again and he's happy.

 

Ok, tell him now that all that is done, to change the fluid and filter every 30,000 miles like it was his religion. Instructions of how to do that can be found on this site.

 

No, more likely he'll be ringing MY phone when that time comes!