'94 Ranger stuck in 4th gear

[tomwalshco]

About 170k and a company vehicle so a lot of people have driven it. I've had it for 4 weeks and it's been great until yesterday. Stuck in 4th gear regardless of shifter position, even neutral. Was towed to the shop and the owner/vulture says it needs a new tranny, but I seriously doubt it. I've had older cars that lost its linkage and acted like this, but I guess these have "shift rails".

Anybody help me here? Runs pretty good, but it's beat up cosmetically. So why spent $1K to put a new transmission in a $1200 truck? I'm sure the clutch is fine and the transmission has been fine up until that moment.

Thanks.

 

[Iron Weasel]

Chances are the shift rail or the shift fork are the culprit. Both will require the transmission to be pulled and partially disassembled to verify what the actual cause is.
A complete rebuild should be cheaper than a replacement transmission, but that might be more than you want to spend. If you want the really cheap way, pull the transmission yourself and take it to a shop and have then open it up and replace just the parts that are busted.

 

[tomwalshco]

Thanks, weasel. I'm sure you're right on. I was thinking about putting an ad on CraigsList to see if there's a shadetree mechanic lurking around that needs some dough and is familiar with this transmission.

 

[92exp4x4]

Assuming you have the M5OD, you can pull the trans top cover with the tranny in the vehicle. Pull the carpet back and pull off the floorplate and you can get to cover. If you truck is a 4.0 engine, most likely you have this trans.

Most of the shift mechanism is contained in this top cover. I would pull it apart and see if it is jambed up. If there are parts broken off though, you may want to tear the tranny down to find them.