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No 5th or reverse! Wife can't go to work till i fix this!


Raser13

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Messages
51
City
St. Louis mo
Vehicle Year
1990
Transmission
Manual
My credo
I love it when a plan comes together
No 5th or reverse! Wife can't go to work till i fix this! now pic heavy

HELP!!!!! I've got a 91ranger with a 5 speed manual. Ok. Four with an overdrive. My wife went on a long trip this weekend and on her way back she lost 5th and reverse.

What it's doing: when you try to go into reverse it acts like your not pushing in the clutch and is grinding. You can shut the truck off. Stick it in revese. Start it up and it will kick it out of gear as soon as you start to let the clutch off. You can sometimes do this and hold it into gear yourself. But this is hit and miss.

Fifth gear just won't even try to go into gear. It acts like first does when your going to fast and try to down shif. It just blocks you. There's no gear grinding. No trying to engage at all. Just acts like the gears nit even there in the firstplace. It's like there is something in the way.

I don't know the model number of ny tranny or i would have given it to try and help out. So if some knows that info let me know. So i can look up parts I'll need and such. But i need help with this fast. Every day this is down is a day my wife can't go to work. We're really in a tight place right now so any help would be an amazing help! Thanks.
 
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Not sure about 5th but it appears similar to my issue with reverse. Not quite as bad yet however mine will pop of of reverse randomly and it appears to be in higher torque conditions (backing up a hill or slow uneven terrain).

Sounds like a synchro going out in the tranny which I am not looking forward to as I expect in your case and in my near future it will be a complete rebuild.

I am following as I would like to hear some thoughts from others with a little more experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
M5OD-R1 is the transmission you have.

You will have to pull the trans to fix it but it isn't an expensive fix most likely.

5-speed with reverse is 6 gear selections

If you pull off the shifter you will see 3 Shift Rails each with a "slot" attached to it.
The shifter arm end fits into each slot separately and that enables you to push that shift rail forwards or backwards using the shifter arm
Each shift rail also has a Shift Fork attached, as the shift fork is moved forward or backward it engages a different gear, like 1st or 2nd gear.

So there is a 1st/2nd shift rail, 3rd/4th shift rail and a 5th/reverse shift rail.
3 shift rails, 6 gears

There is a problem with your 5th/reverse shift rail.
Usual problem when you lose 2 gears is broken roll pin or fork.
roll pins hold "slot" to shift rail and fork to shift rail, if one shears off then shifter can't push trans far enough into those gears.

But the fact the synchro isn't working, the grinding, could mean another issue as well.

In any case trans would need to come out to access top plate and assess the problem.


Contrary to what you may be thinking now, lol, the M5OD is a reliable transmission so a used one is not a big gamble.
But the M5OD has an integrated bell housing, than means it is engine specific, a 3.0l M5OD won't fit on a 4.0l or 2.3l engine.
Also 2WD or 4WD use different tail shafts.

When trans is out or if you get another M5OD you need to replace the rubber shift Rail plugs on the back of trans with metal plugs,
These would leak and over time trans fluid would get low causing input gear to burn out, expensive fix.
 
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Dorman 555-108
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ok boys and girls, i've gotten the transmission on my ranger opened up. i checked the shifter forks and their pins like suggested. they all seem to be in place and working as they should. once the cover was off i could get the selector to easily move to both the fifth and reverse positions. and the selector arm moved like it should. nothing was loose like mentioned above. all of the roll pins were intact. unfortunately i couldn't get any pics as i dropped my phone into the tranny as i reached to get it to take pics of the lid.

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ever wonder what your phone would look like full of tranny fluid? now you know.:bawling:

but back to the tranny. the main four gears were not an issue and everything looked good in their section. but i took pics just incase some one might see some thing that my noob to the insides of trannies might have missed.

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the problem i am having involves the fifth an reverse gears wich from what i can tell are located in this back section of the tranny. everything looks ok to me. but again i have an untrained eye. and some of what may be causing the problem may be under the fluid. i'm going to drain that out saturday.(next day i have free to work on this) it really needs fresh in there. the lever that controls the reverse fifth selection i could manually move to the reverse position just as i could with the selector. also just like the selector i could not get it to go into fifth to save my life. i even tried to gently pry a bit with a screw driver to no avail. but take a look and see if there is something that your trained eyes pick up on that i've missed.

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sorry about all of the bad pics. photography is not my strong suit. but i hope it gives you guys a decent understanding of how my tranny looks. i'll get more pics on sat. once i drain the fluid unless some one sees the problem in these shots and can guide me to what the problem is. thanks for looking, i know that this was pic heavy:sad:
 
Is that gear oil in that trans? That needs to be flushed out and replaced with ATF fluid asap.
 
Sadly no that is atf. I don't think it's ever been changed on this poor truck. I know i haven't done it in the six or so years that I've owned it.:no2: i will be changing that out as soon as i get this fixed. I'll be emptying it out tomorrow one way or the other so i can see things better on the lower side of the tranny. The fluid is not as bad as the pics. My camera just picked up the reflections really well. The fluid is halfway see through.
 
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o.k. i drained the trans fluid out of the tranny so i could see everything better.and it helped a little. it seems that the little squares that hold the trans in gear( i believe they are referred to as dogs?)r have gotten lodged and are trying to hold things towards the revers side of things. thus not letting it go into fifth. and also not holding it into reverse.

so now i'm on a search the search for a rebuild kit. i'm having issues trying to find one for the M5OD-R1. is the M5R1 the same kit?

i'm seeing those all over the place listed for rangers and broncos. except i need a kit that includes these too.and not just for the 1-2 and 3-4 but i also need one for the reverse-5th as well.

http://www.americanpowertrainwareho...-springs-keys-kit-1-2-3-4-fits-ford-mazda-88/

none of the kits i've been able to find for the m5r1 have those included.i just barely found that extra kit that had the 1-2 and 3-4. help me out guys! if you have links to the right rebuild kits that would be even sweeter. thanks.
 
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Look at this diagram and see if you can get the part number: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/pdf_documents/ToyoKoygoMazda.pdf

There will be 3 "dog gears", one for each of the 3 shift forks, the 3 Dog gears sit between 1/2, 3/4, 5/Rev
In the drawing #25 looks to be the dog gear, synchro assembly, for 5th/reverse

Only the Dog Gears are connected to the Output shaft, so when you shift gears you are pushing a Dog Gear over to connect to the "gear set ratio" you want.
When the 3 Dog Gears are centered, not pushed one way or the other, you are in Neutral.

And the way the shifter is set up you can only control 1 Dog gear at a time, and must return it to Neutral before you can select another Dog Gear to control, that is where the "H" shift pattern comes from in Manual transmissions.
 
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the parts that are causing the issue are labeled#13- Synchro Key- 5th & Rev. they are jammed up causing the #23 m/s bearing retainer to be stuck halfway in reverse so it won't let the fork push it back towards fifth gear i need to find a kit that has the #13 parts and the #11 sychro spring any idea where i can order a rebuild kit with these parts in them? or a comprehensive rebuild kit, and a kit where i can get these parts? like i said i can find the M5R1 kits but they don't include these parts. and i can't find m5OD-R1 kits anywhere.
 
Hey guys, just an update to let you know. Right niw I'm going to get a junk yard tranny that i know works. I'll get a rebuild kit evetually and rebuild the one i have now. Thank you all for the information and help with this. It is well appreciated. Thank you.
 
Thanks for the update.

M5OD-R1 is a very good trans so wrecking yard buy is not a big gamble.

Bell housing is not detachable so "new" trans needs to match your engine size, also 2WD or 4WD are different

Make sure fluid in it now is ATF, and doesn't smell or look burned

replace rubber plugs if possible.
 

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