Reverse grinds in M50D

rangerin · Aug 29, 2014

About 1k miles back I put a M50D in my 84 ranger along with a whole new clutch assembly. Since then, it's been working great, with one slight issue. Every now and then reverse will grind as I put it into gear. At first I just chalked it up to my inexperience with driving manual trannies but today I confirmed something is up. I was in the parking lot about to back up into a spot and I tried going in to reverse (clutch disengaged) and the reverse gear grinded some. I tried a 2nd time once I had parked and I was able to repeat it. I'm not sure what's up because both times I was sitting still and the clutch was disengaged. :dunno:

Now, I bet I can go a whole week or two before it happens again. Is the tranny or me that's messing up?

bf750 · Aug 30, 2014

all most all fords grind in reverse .manual trann

96firephoenix · Aug 30, 2014

try putting it in first gear, then keep the clutch in while you move to reverse...

thats how the 5speed in my firebird works, but not the ones in my rangers. :dunno:

just a thought.

BRUTUS_T_HOG · Aug 30, 2014

Is it hard to get into gear? If you have it in reverse, then take it out and put it back into reverse while holding clutch pedal down does it grind each time? That would mean the clutch is not fully releasing or the pilot bearing is dragging.

Reverse in an M5OD is synchronized, the synchronizer cone is probably just worn out contributing to the crunch. When I rebuilt mine the reverse synchro teeth were almost worn away

rangerin · Aug 30, 2014

BRUTUS_T_HOG said:
Is it hard to get into gear? If you have it in reverse, then take it out and put it back into reverse while holding clutch pedal down does it grind each time? That would mean the clutch is not fully releasing or the pilot bearing is dragging.

Reverse in an M5OD is synchronized, the synchronizer cone is probably just worn out contributing to the crunch. When I rebuilt mine the reverse synchro teeth were almost worn away

I know for a fact that the clutch releases just fine; I can see plenty of travel when it releases. I've never had a hard time getting it into reverse, just sometimes it grinds. Maybe the syncro is a little worn. Before I swapped the tranny I rebuilt the shifter so it's not that either.

BRUTUS_T_HOG · Aug 30, 2014

Ok so more likely operator error or a dragging pilot bearing.

Most transmissions don't have synchronized reverse and do just fine.

Try shifting into 2nd before shifting into reverse, that will stop the gear train before the shift into reverse.

scotts90ranger · Aug 31, 2014

My tranny had some wear on the 5/R slider when I rebuilt it, apparently there's two different setups on the 5/R in the M5OD and the switch year is '92, the difference is the tooth count on that synchro set, it's lower after '92 as the earlier ones had the problem you are having more often.

rangerin · Aug 31, 2014

BRUTUS_T_HOG said:
Ok so more likely operator error or a dragging pilot bearing.

Most transmissions don't have synchronized reverse and do just fine.

Try shifting into 2nd before shifting into reverse, that will stop the gear train before the shift into reverse.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. It may be me, when I did the trans swap I put in new everything (pilot bearing, throwout bearing, slave cylinder, master, flywheel, etc....) The thing is, it shifts beautifully into all other gears every time. Just every now and then reverse wants to be funky. That being said I've only driven a MT for 1k miles so I'm still new at it.

scotts90ranger said:
My tranny had some wear on the 5/R slider when I rebuilt it, apparently there's two different setups on the 5/R in the M5OD and the switch year is '92, the difference is the tooth count on that synchro set, it's lower after '92 as the earlier ones had the problem you are having more often.

Didn't know that, thanks! Although, my tranny in from a '96.

Explorin94 · Sep 2, 2014

bf750 said:
all most all fords grind in reverse .manual trann

Not when synchronized!

Really shouldn't respond when you don't know!!

Reverse grinds in M50D

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