So my old girl finally let go today and the trans went out with style and quite noisily I might add...Bummer! All the gerry-rigs I've been doing to the top plate to make up for the blown-out shifter pins caused me to put her in reverse at 60 mph cuz I the pins let go mid-shift trying to down-shift into 4th on I95. Damn, that was quite an experience...

Soooo,

I need a replacement. Unfortunately, here in south Florida, all the junkyards I called want $500 for theirs and none of them can guarantee the mileage.Nor could I get one of them to let me pull the top plate to inspect it...No thanks! Has anyone rebuilt theirs at home successfully or am I better off dropping $900 on a rebuilt one?

I can get a M5r1 from a wrecked %Ranger v6 for $350 with 40k miles on it, though. Will that trans bolt in or am I better off witha rebuilt one for 900?




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Personal opinion:
I would go with the $900 rebuilt if you can get some kind of warranty on it as opposed to the $500 crap shoot that could be good to go or cost a couple hundred in parts plus the man hours to rebuild it.

 

Ranger trans won't work.

 

Forget about the m5od if you beat on it in any way and get a zf5 trust me ive gone through three of them in less than a year.

 

I wholeheartetly agree with you on this but the cost of a rebuilt ZF is more than the truck is worth TBH. It does get abused because of all the city driving here which is what killed the top plate...

I pulled the trans yesterday and it looks like only the reverse gears were damaged. The Centerforce Clutch setup shows almost no wear after 30k of city driving, which is a plus! Great investment, there... I might just park her for awhile and attempt a rebuild of the trans myself as it's only about $250 in parts. I won't risk $500 on an unknown JY trans, as I doubt seriously that any of them were maintained as well as this one was. Looking for a Ford tech manual for this tranny as I post this.

 

I was in the exact same boat as you are a few months ago. I spent a few weeks looking at junkyards trying to find a replacement and could not find an exact fit. I was going to buy a remanufactured one for $655, but then found out shipping was $350-$400 (here's the link if interested: http://www.smartpartsauto.com/manual...5r2_mazda.html
I think they are out of Oklahoma). After several discussions on the interwebs, I finally decided to have a local guy rebuild it for $750. I saved a lot of money doing all the labor myself, as far as removing the driveline, and re-installing, etc. While it was out, I took the opportunity to replaced pilot bearing and clutch/slave as well. The clutch kit was $95, the rebuild $750, add another $100 for fluids, box of rags, various shop supplies, etc and all told, I have basically a new trans and clutch for under $950 and about 10 hours of work.

 

I have the M50D section of the 96 Ford Service Manual on pdf file for you if you want it. Unfortunately, it's at work, and I won't be back at the office until Monday morning. If you still haven't found one by then, let me know. I know the '91-'95 M50D have the same exact parts and the '96-'97 as well. I see yours is before '91. While the parts you order for a rebuild will be different than mine, the process shown in the manual is the same. BTW, where do you get all the rebuild parts for $250? When I was looking around at doing it myself, the cheapest rebuild kits I found were all over $450 - but that was for everything - synchros, all bearings, seals, etc - maybe you're just looking at a partial?.

 

My last 1 I had I rebuilt with heat and cryo treated parts including the case and the darn thing still couldn't hold up. So my best advice is avoid launching the truck at 3000 rpm with 33s and a locker.

 

LMAO! Nah, that's what my Mustang is for...


This is going to be a royal PIMFA apparently. I still need a top plate and all I can find is one for $150 on Ebay. That sucks. For $200 I can use my top plate and buy a Hurst Knock-off(Hurst doesn't stock them for my year anymore) that bypasses the stupid shifter pins...

The $150 price I was quoted was just the basics but I need everything and replacement reverse gears. I live in the wrong damned State for this as JY's down here just plain suck!!! All the trucks of my year have long been scrapped out and I can't find anyone who will let me open one up to inspect it so I won't even bother with them. It's just too damned much work to do the swap and find out I got one with a million miles on it already..

Wish I could just toss a T5 in it as they're EVERYWHERE! I'm gonna keep looking around for one though while I decide if $1200 for a ZF is really worth it..she's only got 135k on her so that might be the way to go...$1200 + New clutch + new hydraulics comes out to about $1800 with my labor...Ouch! (ZF's use a different spline count, don't they?)

Oh...the Ford Slave is leaking a little...anyone know where to source one? I can't remember where I bought that one a few years back and the best one Rock Auto carries is a Wagner for $77.00. Much rather use a Real Ford part for that if I can.