88 Ranger 4x4 Trans is bad, what years donor truck to find?

[BillRod]

Hi All

88 Ranger 2.9L 4x4 with bad Mitsubishi FM146 5speed.

What years should I look for to get a donor truck or a trans at the Upull and Pay?

Just looking for a simple bolt in swap.

Thanks
Bill

 

[adsm08]

Almost any and all years after 88. The M5 goes in pretty easy in place of a 146.

The 146 was only 88, 89, and very very few early early early 90s.

 

[BillRod]

Not sure if I want to add any extras to the swap, Unless there is an advantage to or a real gain to the extra work needed.

How entailed is 'Pretty easy'?

What changes might be needed.
Are the mounts the same and slave cylinder hook up etc etc the same?

Thanks
Bill

 

[piotrsko]

my comment would be to go 84 but only because the slave is external and MUCH easier to deal with.

 

[rboyer]

Just recently somebody did this swap and took ALOT of detailed pictures. He went the whole nine yards with the 4.0 clutch/starter upgrade and crossmember upgrade but you can skimp on it just to get your truck running with a more reliable transmission that won't fail as easily. The person that did the swap and posted it put it in the section for submitting to the technical library.