4R44E no reverse, no man 1st issue resolved

[Ranger Andy]

I recently bought a 99 Ranger 3.0 with a bad tranny. Slipping in drive with no manual 1st gear or reverse. After reading the forums, I did the valve body mod with the superior kit, new control valve body gaskets, and the low/reverse servo gasket. Buttoned it up and no joy, same symptoms. Tore the tranny apart and the reverse brake drum wouldn't budge. A couple of whacks of the case on a few 2x4's and the reverse brake drum dropped out. The 1 way clutch was still "frozen" on the inner race. Finally got that out with a liberal dousing of pb blaster. Plastic was deformed and melted as well as a few of the rollers with flat spots. The inner race is brinneled so it looks like a new case as the race is pressed into the case.

Is this a typical problem with this transmission? I did see a lot of rust on the park gear so maybe it migrated in through the back of the tranny. I figured it would be good to share this experience as it may explain 1 case of slipping in 2nd and 3rd as well as no gear engagement in low/reverse.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! How many miles do you have on it? Was the fluid burned?

 

[Ranger Andy]

Thanks for the welcome The truck has 136K on it. The tranny fluid was a bit brownish so on it's way out. It looks like the tranny was replaced at one time as there's the yellow paint marker scrawls on it. No idea as to the mfg date as the id tag on the tail extension is missing. Also a few parts from a transgo shift kit was previously installed.

Aside from the obvious problem, everything else looks ok. Still need to check the bands and clutches for wear but visually ok.

I found an easy way to remove the external servos while the tranny's still mounted. Back off the band adjusters about a 1/4" or so. Then push in the servo cover with your finger (you're now pushing against the servo spring only). There's a slot on the case at the 10 oclock position next to the snap ring. stick a thin screwdriver in the slot and pry the snap ring right out of the bore. Only special tool required is a strong oposable thumb