Franstruck95

Hi Gents, my 95' F150 with a 5 speed has died in the driveway, lucky I made it home. The story: for about 1 month was hard to push into 1st, abruptly couldn't find 1st, stick seemed loose, left for home in 2nd went to 3rd and 4th on way home, in driveway put in reverse and its still there. I dove into the top, remover trans cover and all looked fine, fished with magnet, no loose parts. Reassembled, still stuck in reverse. CLutch fine, I start with clutch in, when I release I am fully in reverse. There has been no grinding or odd sounds. All I can come up with is drain oil (been changed twice in 5 years) and add best anti friction fluid I can find? The same day this happened I rec'd permission to get limitless dried firewood from a wood lot 1/2 mile away. This truck runs excellent, has been maintained well and the motor runs fine Another advise from a shop is pick up a boneyard tranny($400) and they'd instal it($400) $800 is pushing what this truck is worth Fran

Crownman

Changing the fluid isn't going to do anything in my opinion. Chances are that the shifter itself is the issue. You said it felt very loose, You might have a bushing that went out or something like that and it's causing the shifter to not be able to move the forks enough to get it out of gear.

I'll bet that this kit would fix everything up.

http://allstategear.com/M50D%20Shift...pair%20Kit.htm

Check out this video. As far as I know this should be basically the same if not the exact same as yours.

Franstruck95

Thanks Crownman, for the ideas. I did this repair about 4 years ago, when I tore into the top of this trans I noticed the the right and left pins that are part of a "shifter repair kit" where warn down. Kinda sad, the quality of modern stuff. But a loose wedge not and a worn shifter hardware might have caused my catastrophe. I sure hope so, I'm going to disassemble the whole works again and have a man with trans experience look at the forks etc. Will keep you informed, thanks again Fran

Franstruck95

Things I didn't know: the truck was stuck in reverse, on removing the trans cover one can, with a helper pushing in the clutch, move the yoke rings(in the trans body where the yolks rest) out of gear into neutral, and, one can move the yokes (in the cover) thru the gear shift hole(thru the top) in to neutral and you can reassemble and be in neutral. The 2 issues that can now effect shifting are the wedge nut(tight) and the gear shift pins and washers Crownman points to. And: "its not over till its over" Fran

Franstruck95

UPDATE: my last post was optimistic, I had the trans out of reverse and new shifter pins and washers installed. I also had success with a stripped wedge bolt that I was able to save with a 12mm x 1.25mm die. I then painted trans assembly goo on bearing surfaces and reinstalled the cover. First test could not catch any gears, removed cover and reinstalled being careful to set yokes on the rings that looked like their home On this attempt I was exactly where I was before being stuck in reverse. Shifter moved wildly, could not find 1st and could get 2nd thru reverse, but very sloppy. At this point a neighbor dropped by, called his transmission expert friend and handed me the phone to tell him the story of what happened and the symptoms. After I did he said I had a common Mazda 5 speed issue: the dog bone(transfer gear) was shot, and only a complete tear down and replace would work. This could be, but I have recovered no metal chips with by magnet probe. I'm considering dropping the oil and probing thru the drain hole to verify/or not a destroyed gear. There has also never been a grinding sound. I am also going to see if any movement of transmission with cover off and reinstalling of cover might help. No one has thought about the possibility that something is wrong/missing in the cover mechansim? Any ideas out there would be considered. I have had one offer to buy it as a parts truck for $400. Fran

Franstruck95

Sunday A M update: removed cover again put in clutch and just observed. With the clutch in the center portion of the trany gears just spins, I don't know the actual names for any of these components. What is interesting and possibly a clue is when I reinstalled the cover and tested it I now have 1st thru 5th gear but no reverse, before this last cover remove/instal I had 2nd thru reverse but no 1st?! Any detectives out there? When I say " I have 1st thru 5th gear I mean in their position the truck wants to go forward as I edge up the clutch, I am not ready for a road test w/o reverse. Fran

Franstruck95

Success! It turned out a combination of worn shifter pins and a stripped wedge nut left the vehicle unshiftable. After the new shifter parts($22), as Crownman pointed out and fixing the stripped wedge nut (die $6) and tightening properly it shifts like a new truck. A positive spot for every gear with no play. A transmission expert had just told me the trans had to be pulled and stripped to fix. Live and learn, hope this helps someone down the line, Fran