My Ranger 5 speed has no sweet spot

[Alby1]

I have an '09 Ranger 2.3 4cyl 5speed w only 18,000mi on it. I never down shift, only if there is signifigant weight in the back. I have noticed that when trying to shift this tranny w o using clutch,it seems like no matter what RPM its at, there is no sweet spot. It always locks me out of the next gear untill the RPMs have dropped a little. Anyone else expierence this w thiers or have any input?

 

[Doofy]

I like my Ranger and never would abuse her like that.

 

[Alby1]

Its not abuse! If u can time it right, find the sweet spot while shifting when the gears are lined up right u do not need the clutch at all. Mine does not grind, just behaves diff from others ive driven. There seems to be no sweet spot at any RPM where it will go right in w o RPMs having to drop a bit.

 

[Doofy]

As a teenager, I speedshifted on occasion. Then I grew up and didn't do it anymore and don't really know why. My clutch leg still works and my mind and reflexes are still good enough to throw that shifter around...

I still like to wind up the little 3.0 to shift and wouldn't like losing those hard-earned RPM's. To each his own!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

When upshifting I have never been able to shift without letting rpms drop, and that can take a little time. When downshifting I have been able to do the shift immediately by blipping the throttle, but not reliably. I've given up doing that because I can't afford to rebuild a trans on my daily driver. If I had lots of money to invest into transmissions then I would practice a lot more "because racing".

 

[pjtoledo]

its a wide ratio tranny. that means its farther between the RPMs for each gear compared to a close ratio tranny.

 

[adsm08]

Its not abuse!

Actually it is. The M5OD wasn't designed to be speed shifted like that, and it doesn't like it, and according to Ford it is abuse and is grounds for voiding the warranty on the transmission.

 

[RonD]

Its not abuse! If u can time it right, find the sweet spot while shifting when the gears are lined up right u do not need the clutch at all. Mine does not grind, just behaves diff from others ive driven. There seems to be no sweet spot at any RPM where it will go right in w o RPMs having to drop a bit.

I agree with adsm08, it is abuse

M5OD is a full synchro transmission, even Reverse has synchro.

You certainly can shift it without the clutch by matching input and output shaft RPMs, but it won't do it as fast as using the clutch.

All the "gears" are meshed together all the time, and all the "gears" are connected to the input shaft, what you are shifting is the Dog Gears that are connected to the output shaft.
When you select a "gear" you are pushing the Dog gear into that "gear" to force it to spin at the same speed(RPM) as the output shaft, synchros are between Dog Gears and "gears" they are a softer metal so allow Dog gear to start spinning the "gear" to match RPMs without Grinding noise.
The "gear" is spinning at input shaft speed, the Dog gear at output shaft speed, these have to RPM match for the Dog Gear to engage the "gear" selected
With Clutch pedal down the input shaft speed is free to speed up or slow down to allow output shaft/Dog gear speed to be matched
With clutch pedal up then YOU have to speedup or slow down the input shaft speed using the throttle

On older transmissions RPM matching was easier but transmissions also wore out faster, using or not using the clutch

And yes, closer ratios would obviously be faster to match RPMs than wider

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

On a tangent, is there any way I can "fix" the m5od to shift quicker? Such as remove every second tooth on certain gears?

I'll start a new thread.