M50d/m5r1 bearings

[Ranger305]

I'm rebuilding my trans (255k miles) while I have the engine out. I noticedrebuild kits don't include most of the needle bearings. I'm thinking I should order a set of them too? Any suggestions on a good quality rebuild kit? What about the forks?

I have it 90% disassembled, just need to jet the new pets.

 

[Shran]

Don't know if you got your question answered or not but:

Probably don't need needle bearings, I'd just use the ones you have. The one I rebuilt was totally worn out but the needle bearings were fine, go figure. I got a rebuild kit on eBay for around $100, the bearings were out of spec though and the seller was very difficult to deal with but did make it right eventually so I won't name them directly.

Your shift forks are probably fine but check the 5th-reverse one, it is steel and wears faster than the upper aluminum ones.

Other things you need to get are new countershaft and main shaft nuts, they are not reusable. And possibly a shifter bushing kit.

 

[Ranger305]

Thanks for the reply. I am re-assembling now. I ended up getting the needle bearings and glad I did. When I pulled 2 of them out, a couple needles fell out. I'm going to go back with the existing shift forks and hope for the best. At the end of the day, it ended up being a full rebuild with all new bearings and syncros. Still not sure why they don't just include the 2 nuts in the kit.... I bought those. Put a shift bushing kit in it a few thou ago, but the rebuild kit came with new bushings, so I'll throw them in.

I'm ready to see this truck run and drive again.

 

[Shran]

Thanks for the reply. I am re-assembling now. I ended up getting the needle bearings and glad I did. When I pulled 2 of them out, a couple needles fell out. I'm going to go back with the existing shift forks and hope for the best. At the end of the day, it ended up being a full rebuild with all new bearings and syncros. Still not sure why they don't just include the 2 nuts in the kit.... I bought those. Put a shift bushing kit in it a few thou ago, but the rebuild kit came with new bushings, so I'll throw them in.

I'm ready to see this truck run and drive again.

My rule of thumb with the forks is to slip one of the slider rings into the appropriate fork and see how much play there is back and forth... if there's not much, and it looks like there's not much material gone, they're probably fine. In my case there was at least half the material missing from the 5th-reverse fork.

I don't know why the kits don't come with the nuts either, they are a must have item...