Calling transmission guru's 4r44e output shaft interchangability

[boominXplorer]

I've got a 96 ranger 3.0 with a bad trans and I have a 00 ranger 3.0 trans that was pulled from a running truck for a v8 swap. The transmissions are identical electronically except for the 00 missing the speed sensor. There are tons of differences mechanically (brass bushings swapped over to needle bearings mostly) but all is very similar.

I've broken down both transmissions to find the only difference in the output shaft is of course the gear for the speedo and the older shaft has 3 lubrication holes drilled in it where my 00 shaft does not have any. My plan is to do a light rebuild on the 00 and swap output shafts. Will the holes in the shaft cause any issue?

 

[boominXplorer]

Here's a better pic. Both have the same needle bearings in the end.

 

[boominXplorer]

@transman304 @JK080 If anyone knows this answer I'm sure one of you will. Thanks in advance.

 

[transman304]

I believe that you will have to use your sun gear as the one with holes will have bushings and the shaft without doesn’t use bushings. If you wanted to be sure swap out the matching gear train from rear planet ring gear up to forward planets and ring gear. Hope that @JK080 will chime in as I’m not really comfortable swapping parts between years as it seems to always bite me in the a*+! I will think on this and may change my suggestions. Don’t want to steer you in the wrong direction. Could be costly. If you do end up swapping out parts be sure to pay close attention to end-play and set accordingly.

 

[JK080]

I think Brad has good advice about using the gear train that matches the shaft you wish to use, I have not done this or read anything about doing such but I think you will be fine.

 

[boominXplorer]

Thanks for the reply guys, that sounds like it would work. My concern using the hard parts out of the 96 trans is they have about 300k+ mi (odo stopped at 220k 4 years ago) on them where the 00 trans only has 140k on it. The reverse drum is my main concern as it has major ridges in it from the reverse band riding on it (on the 96 trans only).

I'm going to jump back on it tomorrow and will post progress. I've got both transmissions pulled apart in my shop strewn across 2 tables. They seem pretty straight forward to disassemble/assemble so hopefully I'll provide answers to someone else wanting to try the same thing.

Now in your guys option is the newer trans more reliable with all the bearings or is the older model with bushings that don't really fail? I would think the newer trans would get better fuel economy. If I would of known about all these small differences I think I would of just rebuilt the 96 trans in the first place but I'd like to upgrade it if possible. This is for my buddies hunting truck and he does a good bit of highway driving long distances and will pull a small aluminum boat from time to time.

 

[boominXplorer]

Unfortunately I think I found the deal breaker. The rear case bushing in the 96 is a brass bushing and is lubricated though the last big hole in the shaft. The 00 has a bearing that will ride right over that hole. First thought was to put the same brass bushing in the 00 case but if you look hard you can visually tell the 00 case has been bored wider to accept the roller bearing. I really wanted to use the 00 case because of the newer valve body but it looks like I will be rebuilding the 96. I'm near positive the valve bodies won't swap but that's my next part of my investigation.

If this truck was 4x4 I could of bolted it in and used it as is (speedo gear in tcase) but this darn speedo gear is needed for a 2wd.

 

[boominXplorer]

Just wanted to update this incase someone wants to try it. I found that only a 97 4r44e has the shaft I needed. It uses the same case and valve body of the 2000 trans and also has the speedo gear.

To recap a ranger 3.0 rwd trans will interchange 95-97 (or up to 00 with 97 output shaft swap) and 4wd will swap 95-00. There are differences in the cases, valve bodies and bushings starting in 97 and most parts CANNOT be interchaned. Rebuild kits are also listed 95-96 and 97+.