2005 Ranger 4.0 5 speed shifting problem

[ryan2022]

Hi guys,

I know this has been covered and have read a pile of posts.

I'm looking for help from someone who has gone down this road and may have a suggestion.

I just bought this Ranger, and have a really tough time getting it into gear. (any gear) Once I'm rolling it isn't bad, although is fairly notchy. I have to be very deliberate when I shift and it engages fine.

The shifter is fairly tight when its in gear (I was ruling out a faulty shifter bushing)

I checked the fluid level in the reservoir and its topped up.

The transmission fluid itself is as old as the truck and was down slightly from the fill plug...I'm not sure if this would be enough to cause it. I'm going to try the cheap stuff first.

I checked the inspection plate on the transmission and there isn't any fluid or leakage from the slave.

The pedal feels ok, and has resistance.

The truck has roughly 80k miles on it. Is the slave going bad ever visibly wet in the bell housing, or can it be dry and still have failed?

It might be the master cylinder as well, I'm not sure as there are no leaks anywhere from a first look. I can try a bleed and see if that works.

One last question, if I'm understanding it right, I can do a bleed from the bleeder screw on the side of the transmission near the line? I've done this on a pile of FWD transmissions and see no reason why this wouldn't work.

I'm really hoping this isn't a transmission issue. I just bought the damn thing.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Davenothere]

slave cylinder travel

there are some good videos on the subject of hydraulic linkage operation and bleeding procedure. check out the sticky threads at the top of the transmission category. confirm your slave has adequate travel and rule out trapped air in the system. assuming your slave has adequate travel and shift bushing is not worn then I would suspect worn out syncromesh. I have an 2006, 5 spd with 240, 000 km on it and have noticed year after year I must be a little more deliberate when shifting. I have not had any fail completely but I am suspecting that day is coming at some point. if your truck was ever operated with a poorly bled system/leaking slave cylinder it drasticly increases wear on the syncromesh. Pilot bearing is another suspect.