Reoccurring transmission problems

[raceace73]

I have reoccurring transmission problems in my 19994 4.0l super cab 4wd ranger.
A couple of years ago my transmission locked up. I changed the transmission and put one in out of a Mazda. It was the M5OD transmission. The original transmission was tough to get into and out of gear but only at times. The needle bearings ended up backing out of the race in the front of the transmission and got chunked up in the gears.

I put in the M5OD and after a year I had the same symptoms. It was hard to get in and out if gear at times. When I changed the transmission I changed everything but the clutch and slave cylinder.

Now after having the same symptoms my second transmission has blown for lack of a better term. I was driving along in OD and the gear must have gone. First,second, third and OD is junk but 4th is ok. I was able to drive it home.

Why do I keep having these transmission problems? I am an experienced driver with manual transmissions.

Is there a better transmission that I can put in instead of the original or the M5OD?

Thanks!

 

[RangerX]

The original trans was a m5od, too, unless it was an automatic.
The most common problem by far with the m5od is the slave cylinder. They fail. When they are going bad, it causes hard shifting into gears, usually first second and reverse.
Based on threads on this forum, it's fairly uncommon for things to break inside, but it does happen. Could you have had two bad transmissions that broke something internally? Maybe.
When you say all the gears but fourth are gone, do you mean you can't get it into those gears, or you can get it into those gears but it's like neutral?

 

[transman304]

With only 4th gear you have lost your counter shaft. the most common cause is lack of or prolonged low fluid level. The gear on the input shaft gets starved for fluid and destroys its self and the driven gear on the counter shaft.