Need help identifying transmission

[Razor Ramon]

So i have a 1992 ford ranger 3.0L automatic 2wd. and im trying to find a replacement transmission as it stopped shifting into 2nd. But im not sure if these trucks had cable driven or electric speedometers, or if they have splines on the output shaft or not. i’ve read articles but i can’t seem to find an answer. hopefully you guys could help me out.

 

[Shran]

It's an A4LD and I think you will be limited to 91-94 donors. You can only use a transmission from a 2wd truck with a 3.0 engine, nothing else will work unless you tear it down and swap parts.

As far as I know everything before and including 1994 had cable speedometers. '95 up is electronic. I see there are several options on car-part.com and I'm guessing that's the reason you're asking? Unless there's some weird quirk with 3.0 trucks that I don't know about, it shouldn't matter, and that site is simply misleading.

Finding a good junkyard transmission might be tough, those early 3.0 trucks are really not common to begin with. You might consider just having yours rebuilt. I had my wife's gone through recently and it was about $2000 out the door (I had to remove it and reinstall it.)

 

[Razor Ramon]

It's an A4LD and I think you will be limited to 91-94 donors. You can only use a transmission from a 2wd truck with a 3.0 engine, nothing else will work unless you tear it down and swap parts.

As far as I know everything before and including 1994 had cable speedometers. '95 up is electronic. I see there are several options on car-part.com and I'm guessing that's the reason you're asking? Unless there's some weird quirk with 3.0 trucks that I don't know about, it shouldn't matter, and that site is simply misleading.

Finding a good junkyard transmission might be tough, those early 3.0 trucks are really not common to begin with. You might consider just having yours rebuilt. I had my wife's gone through recently and it was about $2000 out the door (I had to remove it and reinstall it.)

Yessir thats the reason i was asking because i’ve called multiple shops, and they all asked me if it was cable driven or electronic, and if it has splines on the output shaft or not. and i’m just not sure. a lot of shops told me it would be challenging to find a remanned transmission and it would be better off to get it rebuilt. Some shops even told me they can’t even rebuild it.

 

[Shran]

The splined output shaft question is really odd to me, ALL of our transmissions have splined output shafts... How else would the drive shaft attach to it? Bluetooth? Maybe they mean the speedometer drive gear that slips onto the output shaft? Some might have a plastic gear there that drives a mechanical speedometer, some might have a reluctor wheel of some sort, some might have a plastic gear that drives an electronic sensor (that's how '95-? works and why you can correct the speedo with the old style driven gear.)

I had the same problem finding a shop to rebuild ours. AAMCO of all places said they just order reman transmissions now and don't rebuild anything. They actually told me to go elsewhere... I got the feeling that it's a matter of "We don't want to" rather than "We can't."

 

[pentode]

My 2 cents, let us all know exactly what the symptoms are that you're having, this could be a minor problem that's easy to fix.

Does it never ever shift into second under any circumstances?

 

[pentode]

The splined output shaft question is really odd to me, ALL of our transmissions have splined output shafts... How else would the drive shaft attach to it? Bluetooth? Maybe they mean the speedometer drive gear that slips onto the output shaft? Some might have a plastic gear there that drives a mechanical speedometer, some might have a reluctor wheel of some sort, some might have a plastic gear that drives an electronic sensor (that's how '95-? works and why you can correct the speedo with the old style driven gear.)

I had the same problem finding a shop to rebuild ours. AAMCO of all places said they just order reman transmissions now and don't rebuild anything. They actually told me to go elsewhere... I got the feeling that it's a matter of "We don't want to" rather than "We can't."

A few years ago I went around here and asked every transmission shop in town if they could rebuild the manual trans in my old Datsun. I was amazed to find that every single one said no.
And you're 100% bang on, it's "we don't want to" - I know it's possible because I ended up doing it myself. .
My conclusion was that they just want to work on the 3 or 4 most common failures on modern boxes that generate max profit. They don't want to get into the unknown. Fair enough, that's biz I guess but that industry has definitely changed over the last few decades.

 

[Shran]

Yeah, I rebuilt several manual transmissions myself because Inland Truck Parts was the only place in town that would even talk to me about it and they were way more than I could afford, being a truck shop. There is another place that will allegedly do them now but the rumor is that they are even more expensive and do not come with any sort of warranty. Really pays to do your own work - I almost attempted the rebuild on my wife's automatic but she would have been unhappy if I spent another 20 hours in the shop and ended up with a failure. If it was mine... I would have done it.

 

[pentode]

This is why I'm hoping we can get a reasonable diagnosis on this member's trans. I can think of more minor reasons it won't shift than major reasons. it's one of the minor things and then a decent mechanic can fix it.

Very first step: fluid level and condition

 

[Razor Ramon]

My 2 cents, let us all know exactly what the symptoms are that you're having, this could be a minor problem that's easy to fix.

Does it never ever shift into second under any circumstances?

it sometimes does! if i get it up to high rpms in 1st and let off the throttle it’ll go into 2nd. But when I am in 2nd if I go full or medium throttle it downshifts back to 1st. If I keep cool throttle it stays in 2nd no problem...

 

[arse_sidewards]

It's an A4LD and I think you will be limited to 91-94 donors. You can only use a transmission from a 2wd truck with a 3.0 engine, nothing else will work unless you tear it down and swap parts.

2wd Aerostar is a potential donor as well.

 

[arse_sidewards]

If you're mechanically competent I would just rebuild what you have. You'll need to find service literature, about $100 in tools and a rebuild kit. Transmissions are pretty easy. It's just a valve body and spring loaded stuff on the bottom and then a huge stack of round stuff that drops in the middle. It only becomes complex when you're trying to work with used parts and/or build something up for more power.