5th gear throw getting worryingly long

[Pronto285]

When I got my 98 (2.5l m5od) it had a pretty long throw for 5th. Nothing too crazy, the throw was pretty long in all gears due to the extended shifter. When I had to replace my slave cylinder, the throw for 5 and r actually got SHORTER, maybe 3/4 or what it was for the other gears. Over the last couple months, and especially the last 2 weeks, the throw for 5 and r has gotten longer and longer, to the point where when I shift into 5 I almost tap the left hand side of the glovebox. Seriously can't be more than an inch of clearance.

Like I said, I dropped and reattached the tranny no problem, but anybody with a good socket set could do that. I have only the barest understanding of a transmissions internals, and I've become fairly worried. If this continues at the rate it's been going, in a few weeks I won't have 5th gear any more.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing it, and how to fix it?

 

[Curious Hound]

I'm not a transmission expert. But a manual tranny is not a terribly complicated thing. My guess is that a bushing or something related to a shift fork inside the transmission is getting worn. I believe most of that is accessible through the top cover and may not even require removing the transmission from the vehicle. You should be able to search the tech articles and forum threads here and see what it looks like inside. I recall one or two recent threads where someone disassembled and re-assembled their transmission with a couple great pictures of all the parts lined up on the bench.

Cleanliness is important. If you open it up, don't let anything fall in. Dirt eats bearings, bushings and gears.

Can't see any reason why replacing the slave cylinder would have changed anything related to this. The clutch is outside the gearbox and has nothing to do with gear positioning.

 

[tomw]

You may find that there are loose bolts on the shift linkage assembly where it is installed into the top of the case. If they come loose, the lever will have to move more to take up the slack before it starts to move the gizzards(shift fork and collar). If the bolts are tight, I'd drop the transmission, remove the linkage bolts and the linkage, and inspect the internal parts. The lever moves around, interacting with three 'rods' which are slotted in some way. The lower end of the lever fits into the slots, and moves the rod forward and backward to select gears. Fifth gear would be the 'far left' rod, and selecting 5th would move the rod rearward. Yours is not moving as much as desired, either due to looseness or wear in the parts.
If the linkage and rods look good, it may be the collar that moves to engage OD/5th. The shift forks generally have 'fingers' that ride in a slot on the collar. If the fingers wear, problems ensue.
tom

 

[scotts90ranger]

I would start troubleshooting from the top, I think you have a broken shifter alignment pin or shifter bushing... Start by taking off the shift boot, then get the shifter out of the way (if you have dropped the tranny, you've taken the shifter off). Now get to the round lower shifter boot with 4 torx screws holding it down and take that off. Now the shifter should come out, there's 2 pins that come in from the side or at least should be... if there's only one on one side then there's your problem I've had one break before, got a replacement from the junk yard... If you take those out there's a blue plastic bushing under the shifter pivot ball, if that's missing that can also cause a lot of shifter play

 

[Pronto285]

Alright. I'll pop the shifter off as soon as I can. Same thing happened suddenly on the drive home tonight for 1st gear. I'm really hoping I can do it without dropping the tranny, I've only done it once and it took me like 16 hours start to finish.

 

[Pronto285]

Well, I feel like a proper idiot. When I reassembled the shifter after dropping the tranny, I must not have put in that bolt correctly, because when I was removing the cup holders and whatnot, the whole shifter came with it. Basically, with the way I shift, the angled bit of cast metal (and the entire shifter) were rotating on the little nubbin it attaches to, and making the throw seem way further than it was. it only happened in 1st and 5th because going straight forward into 3rd wouldn't put enough pressure on either side rotate it. It happened a little in reverse, but not much, and not at all in second. When I reassembled it correctly (bushings are actually great, I think they must have been replaced shortly before I got the truck), everything shifted great. Well, it shifted like crap, but that's because of some clutch issue that I haven't run down yet. All gears were easily attainable though. Thanks everybody!

 

[scotts90ranger]

If it's hard to disengage with a mushy clutch pedal put the pedal to the floor (engine not running or tranny in neutral) and slide your foot off the pedal, do that 3 or so times and see if it improves... that will get some air out of the master cylinder

 

[Curious Hound]

Glad you got it fixed and it was something simple.

Eric B

 

[Mark_88]

Yes, glad it was something simple.

When I first read it the story sounded vaguely familar...and when I read your fix it reminded me I did almost the same thing...except I realized what I did and backtracked to fix it before it got too bad...

Anyway...the lesson I learned from my experience was to always double check things and if something goes wrong in the general area where I was recently working...there is a good chance I forgot something...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I mark the side of each bolt head with a paint marker once it's tightened down. I put a corresponding mark beside the bolt so I can easily see if it's backed off. It helps me remember especially when the job takes more than one day or if I have to leave it for awhile.