cant get into gear

[Prowell42]

ok heres the story, we have a 1993 ranger 2.3l 5 speed. yesterday, out of the blue, asa i was going through a stop light, i shifted into first, released the clutch, and nothing happened. it was just like i was in neutral. so we got it home and got it in the garage, and i came in here to do some research. best i can tell from what little research ive done, maybe the master and/or slave cylinders? it will shift into all gears, with or without the clutch pressed in, just like it will if the truck is turned off. but no matter what gear you put it in, reverse included, it just idles. so im fairly lost. you guys have any suggestions? this is our only mode of transportation at the moment. so i have to get this fixed ASAP. i am more than capable of doing the work myself here in the garage, my problem is diagnosing, and cant and dont want to just throw money and time at a bunch of parts that i dont need. thanks in advance

 

[will1861]

Maybe a broken shaft . If it is in gear and it idles without stalling your transmission has no load on it from the engine I had one go out doing about 80 on the interstate. Good luck

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[alwaysFlOoReD]

If it was the clutch master or slave there would be grinding trying to shift into gears. Perhaps Will got it right...
Another possibility is the shift forks are worn and you are stuck between gears. If you pull the shifter out [while in neutral] and look down into the trans, the mechanisms inside should look like mirror images of each other, both from side to side and top to bottom. If not use a long screwdriver and push /pull the pieces into place so they are as I described. Reinstall the shifter.
If this fixes the problem start looking for a replacement trans now so you can replace it when it goes out for good.

 

[RonD]

If you can roll the truck while it is in gear, clutch pedal up
And it will shift gears with engine running , clutch pedal up

Then most likely issue is the input gear is stripped.
M5OD-R1 is the trans you have in your 1993, it is very reliable but one of the things that does happen if transmission fluid(ATF) gets low is that the input gear fails.
See if 4th gear works, engages when letting out the clutch, 4th doesn't use the input gear, the only gear that doesn't

I have never heard of a clutch slave or pressure plate being locked open all the way, so clutch is always disengaged, and can't see how that would happen.
If it did symptoms would be similar but you would also have mentioned clutch pedal being very easy to push in.

In any case you will need to pull out the transmission.

 

[Spott]

I once had an old Volvo that I destroyed the clutch lining on, and the pressure plate could no longer make any contact with the friction disk.

Because of this, rotation from the engine was no longer being transferred to the transmission, exactly as you are describing.

See if you can get an eyeball on the flywheel and the clutch or tranny input shaft, and figure out which parts in the powertrain are moving and which are not. The problem lies between the last part that's moving, and the first part that's not.