The Lone Ranger – Kage’s ’94 X-Cab Leaf SAS and Bed Bob

[86 slo-vo]

I bid $12.

























sounds like maybe a fork in the trans, though I have no clue as I don't know a lot about them.

 

[escort_gts]

Sounds like sycros. Mine did that only in 2nd gear and only when the trans was at operating temps.

 

[Kyle M.]

Will it shift while turned off? May be bad syncros

 

[Kyle M.]

Have you changed fluid lately?

 

[-Nathan-]

ditto on the synchros.

 

[bobbywalter]

needs rings

 

[kroussinoffroad]

prolly needs a filter too. hahaha

 

[Kage]

I bid $12.

sounds like maybe a fork in the trans, though I have no clue as I don't know a lot about them.

That's a good start for the downpayment

Sounds like sycros. Mine did that only in 2nd gear and only when the trans was at operating temps.

Could be, not ruling it out at this point.

Will it shift while turned off? May be bad syncros

Yes, but its grungy in a few gears, more info below.

Have you changed fluid lately?

Yes, when I pulled it apart, the fluid 'looked' good (red, not burnt), but I failed to really check it for glitter. I've got a feeling that there was some glitter in there that I didn't catch.

ditto on the synchros.

Could be.

needs rings

Nah, that 4.0 doesn't burn a bit of oil, but compression is a bit down to be sure

prolly needs a filter too. hahaha

Thanks for the help, here's todays update:

Prior to pulling everything apart, I did a bit more testing.

With the engine off, I can shift through most of the gears without too much trouble. 1st, 5th, and Reverse were kinda grungy, but I could still get them in without too much issue.

With the motor on, it is very difficult to shift into 1st or reverse from a dead stop, and the other gears aren’t too much better. When moving, the gears feel like they don’t like to ‘let go’ when shifting out of them.

During this time, the clutch throw is in the right spot, and I’m positive that it is disengaging completely (Jacked up the rear, and even in double low, with the clutch disengaged in 1st gear, nothing was moving).

At this point I was still thinking that I might have messed up the pilot bearing reinstalling the tranny even though it went in smoothly. Well good news/bad news time, I got everything pulled apart again tonight, and there still isn’t any apparent issues with the clutch/pilot bearing. Everything looks good, and the pilot bearing turns as smooth as it did when I put it in.

So I pulled off the shift rail cover to see if anything melted in the tranny. Turns out, there is a shit-ton of glitter floating around in there (I didn’t drain the fluid until I dropped the tranny this time). The first time I drained the fluid, I didn’t notice much of any glitter coming out, but then again, I wasn’t looking for it, mostly just looking for burnt fluid. With the cover off, I could see all the glitter (kinda pretty) and its obvious that something gave up the ghost.

I played around with the shift collars, and everything seemed to move as expected with the actions of the 1st, 5th and Reverse mechanisms being the roughest. The synchro’s looked good to me, but I don’t really have a good handle on what a new one looks like. They’re all still pointy and not broken, of that much I can tell ya for sure.

For the most part, everything seemed to spin ok, or about as ok as what I would expect a 228k mile tranny to spin like. The input shaft bearing might be considered a to be a bit sloppy, but not really any worse than any other Ranger transmission I've felt.

Now here’s where I need some help understanding things as this is my first foray into any transmission. When I shift everything into neutral, I would expect that I should be able to turn the input and out put shafts independantly without too much trouble. That’s not the case right now. With everything shifted to neutral, it is very difficult to spin those shafts independently of each other.

Is that normal?

If its not, then I think I’ve found my culprit which would explain why its hard to shift into gear from a dead stop. With the motor running, it would try to load that system (even with that pilot bearing in there) which should require extra force to overcome that to get it in gear.

Does that sound reasonable, or am I making it up? As I said, this is my first foray into any transmission, so I’m a little in the dark when it comes to diagnosis.

If it is the transmission, It looks like I might have to do some junk yard hoping to find another ‘good’ one as I don’t really have access to the tools needed to rebuild this one (Press/puller/bearing splitter being the biggies). It looks like rebuild kits are around $250, and I’m seeing remans on CL for $500 ish. I would hope that I can pick up a lower mileage tranny from the bone yard for under 2 bills.

Help?

 

[4.0B2]

tl;dr hahaha.. keep it short w/ pics if you want our help!

 

[escort_gts]

When I rebuilt/converted my trans, it wasn't that hard to pull bearings and whatnot. I have pulled apart and rebuilt two. The only "tool" I needed was a bearing splitter and a big wrench to remove the rear mainshaft nut.

As far as spinning the in and out shafts in neutral? There should be some resistance but still be able to spin by hand.

 

[escort_gts]

My 89 trans had over 400k miles and gears and synchro looked good. Just the bearings were shot.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

to me i would think an old worn out tranny would spin easier than one with good bearings. but thats just me. the only thing ive ever done on my tranny is change fluid (due to water) and replace the top shift plate.

however i am very intrested in this since my last time out wheelin my clutch gave me one hell of a time and finally put an end to my day after we covered about 30 miles. mine started giving me fits between gears but never from a dead stop and very intermitten. shortly after that issue seemed to have gone away I nearly all my fluid and made it imposiable to get into gear from a dead stop however i was then able to get a good shove from another truck and then powershift all the way home and had no issues between gears the whole trip home (roughly 2 miles). i have since refilled my reservoir, bleed the slave and play with the clutch on a daily basis and have lost NO fluid the entire time its been in the garage (about a month)

 

[bobbywalter]

syncro rings you silly rabbits


tail and input slop causes bind, sound like you have enough slop for case grininz


are you running amsoil 0 30 type oil?

 

[Kage]

tl;dr hahaha.. keep it short w/ pics if you want our help!

I'll try to shorten it up for ya next time, and use smaller words

...As far as spinning the in and out shafts in neutral? There should be some resistance but still be able to spin by hand.

I can get them to spin by hand, but its HARD. I would expect some resistance there, but not as much as I'm feeling now.

My 89 trans had over 400k miles and gears and synchro looked good. Just the bearings were shot.

There allways has been some noise in this tranny, but honestly, its pretty damn quiet for how many miles it has on it. By spinning things around I could tell that the bearings don't feel as fresh ast they could be, but its not horrible either.

to me i would think an old worn out tranny would spin easier than one with good bearings. but thats just me. the only thing ive ever done on my tranny is change fluid (due to water) and replace the top shift plate. ...

Yes, fresh bearings might provide more resistance until they break in. Toward the end of their life, they tend to bind up, either from grit getting into them, or extra slop in the sysetem from the bearings allowing things to bind up.

syncro rings you silly rabbits

tail and input slop causes bind, sound like you have enough slop for case grininz

are you running amsoil 0 30 type oil?

I'm wondering if there's 'just' enough slop in that input shaft to cause it to bind up. While it doesn't feel that sloppy to me, I don't have a good feel for how much is too much.

I'm running Mercon V in it (or was anyway). Going by the recipts, this tranny has allways had Mercon in it.

I do have the ford service manual for this truck, so I need to do some reading on it. As well as some internet reading on rebuilding these things during my lunch break. I'm not opposed to giving it a try, but I want to know that I've at least got a chance of success with the tools I have available to me in the garage.

I'll see if I can't squirrel away a little garage time tonight to pull it apart further. But I'm thinking the plan might be to just grab another boneyard tranny. Maybe I can find one of the newer M50d's with the supposed better second gear syncro's.

If someone close to me has a 4x4 4cylinder tranny they want to get rid of cheap, that would sway me toward rebuilding what I have.

 

[escort_gts]

Oh, there is a pilot bearing between the input shaft and mainshaft. I forgot about that one. It was giving me problems cause a few needle bearings were broken when I first pulled it apart. That might have something to do with what your having.