My father in law has a 99 Ranger, 3.0, 4x4, automatic with 140k. Today he was backing up to the barn and his tires spun less than a foot and now it doesn't have reverse. He said that it goes forward fine. The trans fluid is clean and doesn't smell burnt. I checked for codes with auto engenuity and didn't get any. He is going to try leaving the battery unhooked tonight to see if that may help. Has anyone had any experiance like this?
Thanks

 

Huck, sounds like the reverse clutch pack has bit the dust. It was a common problem on the FMX trans.

 

Thanks, Paul. I was hoping it would be something easy... We missed ya at RRE this year.

 

pull the pan and see whats in it. that should have a 4r44e tranny in it. the 4.0l had a 5r55e in them. i have a book of every transmission built. my ranger has a mazda 5speed in it. sorry paul. i worked at a tranny shop.

 

A FMX is basically a cast iron cruisomatic, which was not used in any Ranger built in 84 up.

I would suspect that the band came off its support strut, or the servo, or both. You can drop the valve body, and remove the servo piston, and possibly re-position the band onto the strut support using a philips head screwdriver. You will need to understand how the strut sits on the case. Literally on the edge of the case, and pokes into one end of the band. The servo piston pushes its pushrod into the other end of the band to make the band apply, and force the drum to stop rotating.
The band could also be broken, but you'd likely have heard a bang when that happened.
The other option is a cracked servo piston. A servo is a hydraulically operated piston within a cylinder that moves the piston to apply a force. If the piston cracked, there would not be enough pressure to apply the band.
If you drop the pan, you may find a squarish piece of metal in the bottom of the pan, about one inch by 1.5 inches, with a groove or v-cut notch in one or both ends. If you do, it is likely the band strut. The v-cut helps position the strut on a nub at the center of the band, helping the band to stay in alignment front to rear on the drum. I think the band is adjusted by changing the length of the servo piston pushrod. The other forward apply bands have adjustment screws on the side of the case, or at least did when I was doing that kind of work.
I may be using wrong terminology, it's been a while.
tom

 

Sorry about the mis-info. I was referring to the FMX as it, along with the trans put in the Ranger was just junk. I am thinking along the lines also about the band, or even maybe the servo. You will just have to open it up to see. No noise, points towards the servo, clutch pack or band coming loose. A noise is broken band or sprag bearing. As you see it could be a number of things.

 

drop the pan and unscrew reverce servo cover, pull out servo piston and if you see it is OK, try to press on band with long screw driver, if band is broken you will feel it.

If the servo is bad you can easily change it with tranny on truck. I had bad gasket and bad sealing. People say that valve body troublea are possible, but... I've never had bad valve body and no reverce.

The bad news that to change this band you are to drop and disassembly all the tranny, you will find some bands, clutch packs worn and as result - full rebuild!

 

drop the pan and see what happened!

 

I dropped the pan just a few minutes ago. I'm fixing to pull the vb and see whats going on.

 

4r44e! they haven't put a fmx in years.

 

good let me know what you find!

 

i'll try to help!

 

The vb and the servo piston is out. The servo piston, gasket and seals look fine. I could feel tension (not a lot) when I pushed the screw driver up in the hole.

 

When you push the screw driver, you would be taking the slack out of the band 'wrap'. After a bit of travel, the band should get SOLID, as you are metal-to-metal all the way around, from screwdriver to band to support/anchor strut, wrapped around a solid drum.
There would be a little resistance and then lock up. Poke around with a flashlight, and see if you can see the other end of the band, and insure that it is in place.
If the band is broken, the screwdriver should just go in far enough to jam the end of the band against the inner surface of the case.
tom

 

i forgot about that. thats a good point tom.i thought the dodge trucks only had that problem. the reverse wedge will fall out and get caught in the park linkage. but yeah if the lining goes away it would do that. i'm not a builder but i do know someone that is.
thats why i suggested pulling the pan. and the rig is newer than mine.. but mine has a 5spd in it.