Thinking ahead.....

[djk]

I've been thinking alot lately. M rangers transmission isn't in the best shape. It has the FM146 in it. Since i've got it it's always made noises. but they are tending to get louder. Every gear except 4th seems to make a loud noise. Hard to explain it but i don't know. Not that i know alot about transmissions but i think 1 2 3 and 5th bearings are going out. 5th seems to make the worst noise. The thing though, the transmission works flawlessly. doesn't slip, or get out of gear. But with the loid noises comes a question. When will it blow? I can imagine one of these days 5th gear will blow out and i'll be F*ed. The question is. What do i do when it happens. I look online and see rebuild kits that i can buy. I have a friend that can take the transmission out of the truck for almost no cost. All i'd have to do is find someone to rebuild it. But I also read in other places that it's better to get the mazda transmission. However, what i'm asking you guys is what is the most cost affective way to handle the situation if it occurs. Junk the truck, Rebuild, buy a tranny from the junkyard? Some of you have been in this exact predicament, so i wanna hear from you, what do you suggest?

 

[RustedRanger]

You could try Lucas. I havent used it in a manual trans but I did use it in the noisy rear end of a 84 Chevette....it quieted it down and made it from East Central Indiana to California in three days with no trouble. I also used Lucas in the trans and power steering of my moms car and it helped a huge amount.

 

[whatelseisleft]

you've got alot of options... i'm in a real similar position with my BII... I'm going to get a m5od-r1-hd out of 2002 or newer ranger has to be a 4.0 4x4 though... you could go the rebuild route but a rebuild kit will cost almost as much as an used trans... plus you'd just be rebuilding a weak trans... i'd think about upgrading to a m5od or better trans... but it your truck and your dollar... just my $.02

 

[djk]

Thanks for the suggestions. And yeah i heard the fm146 is a week tranny. so it would be better to get a mazda from a junkyard. but the thing is nothing is guaranteed when buying things from a junkyard. I don't want to sink money into something that might end up being trash to begin with. What adjustments would i have to make to replace an fm146 with a mazda? I heard it's almost the same exact dimensions and everything but i'm not sure.