manual transmission wont go into any gear

[rabhimself81]

So i replaced the clutch and pressure plate because the old one had split. We put the tranny back in and now we cant put it into any gear with the car on or off. if i wiggle the stick shift it seems to be in neutral but as i let the clutch out it starts going forward as if it was in gear. it also sounds like it seems to be grinding and i can hear it coming from the bell housing i think. any thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Did you take the shifter off while the trans was in neutral? It could be that the shifter isn't in the right position in the trans when it was re-installed. Take the shifter off and using a long screwdriver, align everything in the trans so everything looks centered and one side is a mirror image of the other. Install the shifter, it should be in neutral now.
Good luck,

Richard

 

[RonD]

2WD?
4X4?

The shift linkage is all internal so not much to go wrong on an R&R for clutch replacement, you could have mis-aligned shift forks as alwaysFlOoReD said.
Did the bell housing mate with the engine easily or did you have to force it closed with the bolts.
Maybe loosen up the bell housing and see if shifting works, drop the drive line as well and manually rotate output shaft and see if the frees up the shifter

 

[rabhimself81]

its a 2wd and yes i took out the shifter out in neutral when i pulled the tranny and i looked inside the were the shifter goes and it doesnt look like mirrored so ill give your advice a whirl alwaysFlOoReD. and RonD we tried moving the truck back and forth and seeing if it would try to drop into gear but nothing happened and i didnt have to force it with the bolts it eventually slid in after jerking the tranny around for a bit. thanks for your help guys i will let you know if it works

 

[rabhimself81]

so this is what im seeing down in where the stick shift should go, what should i be moving around

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'm not a tranny guy.....thank god! Bad jokes aside, you should be able to use a long screwdriver to slide the top of what you see that is on a round rail, one rail on each side. The screwdriver is taking the place of your shifter. You have to manipulate the tops of the forks[?] so both sides are centered in what you see. That is what I meant by a mirror image.
Clear as mud, right? Just keep trying until it pops into correct orientation. Also, you don't have to tighten down the shifter each attempt. It should shift without effort with the clutch engaged. You did bleed the clutch?
Good luck,

Richard

 

[trail B2]

When you look down into the hole there's three machined slots.You can see one with the reverse spring on in the picture it I think anyway.When looking at the tranny end of the shifter you can see it's tip fits in the machined slots.Take a big screwdriver or whatever and put the machined slots all in the middle position they will click and stay there.Then they will form a pocket because there aligned and the end of the shifter goes in that pocket.From the picture it appears to be your problem.

 

[Surefoot1970]

Should look like this.
http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/Surefoot1970/1993 Ford Ranger/100_0189.jpg

 

[rabhimself81]

Thanks a lot guys that picture made things a lot easier to see what was wrong with mine, not that your descriptions didn't help but it's a lot easier to see then to describe. So now I can successfully go into all gears without a problem but I still hear a slight grinding type noise but my brother just thinks it's due to a lack of tranny fluid. When we emptied it it poured out about 4quarts worth and when I refilled it I was only able to put just over 3 in before it started to spill out of the fill hole. So he thinks now that I can shift gears it might have freed up some space to put more fluid in. I'm gonna try to add more and see what happens. He also thinks it could be the TOB but I checked it while I had the tranny out and it spun smoothly and made no noise. Any ideas? Thanks again everyone who has been helping me out its been very much appreciated

 

[pcollins]

So he thinks now that I can shift gears it might have freed up some space to put more fluid in.

Sorry but that made me laugh. The M5OD transmissions don't take much fluid at all. Around 3 quarts, i think its even less. Park the truck on level ground, pull out the fill plug, fill until fluid comes out the fill hole, and thats it, the tranny is full.

 

[a31ford]

ONE thing to note.... MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT FLUID (in caps for a very good reason...)

one version of a MANUAL takes ATF (Yes you read correctly), the other version takes 80-90