Transmission swap From 95 to 98

[Danielsand]

So I know these two years of truck are completely different Gens but I was curious. There is a killer deal on a 98 ranger that has a bad torque converter. I currently have a 95 ranger that I’ll be rebuilding the transmission in. It’s the 5spd manual(M5R1) and I was wondering how easy it would be to bolt in my manual transmission into the 98.

 

[Brain75]

might add the exact engine+trans combinations for both the vehicles... I'm no expert on the Rangers (closer to being on the 1940's and 50's transmissions), but without that info it is kinda a crapshoot. One thing that is definitely under consideration is that all the trans almost certainly have integrated bell housings, so if the patterns aren't right you are talking engine+trans (+wiring harness, etc etc)

The tech library has a whole host of info on transmission stuff as well (it is a little easy to miss if you jump straight to the forum):

Transmission, Transfer Case & Driveshaft - The Ranger Station

DISCLAIMER: Activities and vehicle modifications appearing or described at The Ranger Station and it’s pages may be potentially dangerous. We do not endorse any such activity for others or recommend it to any particular person – we simply describe … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

 

[Danielsand]

Both have the 4.0 V6. The one I wanna swap into has an auto while mine has a manual

 

[Brain75]

Another sanity check, are they both 4x4, or both 2wd?

So from the article here:

Ford Ranger Manual Transmissions - The Ranger Station

Here are the Ford Ranger manual transmissions that were offered from 1983-2011, their trans codes, and gear ratios

www.therangerstation.com

the '95 is probably a Mazda M50D-R1

and from this article:

https://www.therangerstation.com/tech/ford-ranger-automatic-transmissions/

the 98 is probably the 5R55e.


If you could verify that it would save any of the helpers from giving you bad info.

The tech library doesn't have any specific.....

a search gave me these results:

Search results for query: 5R55e to M50D-R1

www.therangerstation.com

and the 9th result looks to be an unfinished how to from 2008...

5R55E Automatic Transmission to M50D-R1 Transmission Swap

This How-To is by far incomplete. I am going to put this together as I go so it isn't so time consuming at the end to write it up. Mod:5R55E Automatic Transmission to M50D-R1 Transmission Swap Difficulty: 8/10 (mechanical & electrical knowledge required) Time: Depends on person(s) mechanical...

www.therangerstation.com

The pictures are all borked thanks to photobucket.
I barely skimmed it since I don't want to invest a ton of time chasing the wrong trans if the vehicles don't have original trans, or for some other reason not the ones I guessed at.


At a dead minimum any auto to manual trans also involves changing the steering column and the floor plate to get the shifter right on top of all the trans and electrical stuff.