medeski

hey guys, ive been lurking around this forum for some time now. seems like some of you really know whats going on with these old trucks, so any feedback would be good feedback. about a month ago i purchased a 1995 5spd 5.0L 4x4 xlt with 225k miles on 32" tires. when i bought it i knew the right front break was bad and the power steering didnt work, i bought a new caliper and a new set of pads, but now i realized that the screws that hold the caliper on are broken off in the piece thats attached to the truck. i put the lucas power steering stop leak and filled the power steering up with fluid and it works almost like new with very minimal leakage, like maybe the size of a quarter over night, my opinion on that stuff is it works great because all the fluid used to leak out over night.


when the engine is cool and has been sitting it shifts fine, but as soon as i get a few miles down the road and the engine warms up i have to work it into first and second gear, sometimes third as well. the guy who sold me the truck wasnt exactly honest about everything (they never are ). a few other people in other threads have had this shifting problem and apparently got it cleared up by changeing out all the fluids in the tranny and transfer case. one thing im really wondering about before i can do this is the guy i bought the truck from said the manual transmission was rebuilt 3-4 years ago to run on "30W motor oil". a friend of mine also recently bout a 94 ranger from a totaly different person who claimed his was rebuilt to run on 30W motor oil as well. what in the heck is going on here?

the rear gas tank has a pinhole leak in it and the guage on the front on doesnt work. i have not even tried to put gas in the rear tank to see if it leaks or if the gas guage works, i know the switch on the dash ti change between tanks works because i switched it one day out of curiosity and the truck started sputtering out of gas. the only other instrumentation that works on the dash is the odometer, speedometer and the battery meter.

sometimes when rolling, and i say rolling because it happens whether im in gear or not, i get this rattling almost like a crunching noise sometimes sounding like its comming from the rear end.

Fast Hampster

I guess that '95 and '93 must have the same breaks, and i have no caliper screws at my '93. It's held by some pins. If you're about to replace a caliper - please notice that it's strongly recommended to replace both of them an once, otherwise your front brakes may have different breaking force.

As i know it there are some gearboxes running on motor oil, at least in Russia . But in here we had nothing close to Dextron when these gearboxes appeared, that's why motor oil was used. I'm not sure how the gearbox can be converted/upgraded and i'm not sure if such conversion makes sence. I'm not sure how the motor oil in tranny might affect shifting, but my guess is that motor oil viscosity is getting lower is as warms up. Changing oil will not hurt anything anyway, and it may be a good starting point.

Most common fuel gauge mailfunction is caused by sending unit failure.

About strange sound - do you get it when accelerating/deccelerating when in gear? It sounds like a gearbox output bearing or a tail shaft to me, but i can't be sure.

medeski

it starts when im in gear and youd think that if it had something to do with the transmission it would stop when i take it out of gear, but the noise just keeps happening when it happens, it doesnt even happen every time, and it only happens between 10-15 miles per hour then it stops


so with an old transmission i would want thicker or thinner viscosity?

Fast Hampster

about sound - i assume it might be caused by gearbox rear end or u-joints. I can't name it's exact location from here, sorry Do you have a drive shaft hanging bearing? It might also be the cause.

My position about oil is to stay with engineers. Do a search at the forum, there was a thread about right gearbox oil in here lately. If i remember it right Just Call Me Sean said that it must be Dextron II or III.

medeski

im not a mechanic and really dont know a whole lot about these trucks, what is that and how do i find out if i have one?

yeah sean already told me it must be Dex 3, but someone else said thats an automatic transmission fluid?

bjafeman

the hanging bearing supports the weight of the driveshaft. You'll know if you have one by crawling under the truck and looking to see whether the drive shaft runs straight from the transmission to the rear end, or if it pass through a circular thingy that's attached to the truck.

Basically, if you disconnected the shaft on the tranny side and diff side, would it fall out? If not, then you have a hanging bearing.

medeski

i just crawled under the truck and the driveshaft comes off the back of the tranny straight to the rear end, and if i disconnected it, it would fall right out.

EDIT: the driveshaft seems to be structuraly sound and pretty solid, if i yank on it it doesnt shift or move but i can turn it a little bit, is this bad?

94'snap

When the engine is off can you shift it fine or is it the same?

bjafeman

A little bit of movement means you're probably fine. Even brand new U-joints move a little because of the small spaces (called gear lash) in the gear teeth between the transmission and rear end. Rather than trying to measure how far it's moving, pay attention to the integrity of the joints when you're twisting it.

If the fastening arms (yokes) of the joints all remain about 90 degrees from each other while the shaft is being twisted around, you're probably OK.


As for the growling noise, my guess is that your U-joints might need to be lubed if they have the grease fittings like the one pictured, your differential needs a little attention, or the output bearing/tail shaft situation fast hamster described. I think the last one might be what you're hearing, but hopefully not.

Definitely check the fill plug on the diff while you're messing around with your drive shaft. Most diffs have a fill plug that faces the front of the truck. Usually the fill plug can be unscrewed with a 3/8" ratchet head (i.e. no socket, just the ratchet/breaker bar head).

By the way, bring a flash light with when you do this. Pull the fill plug out. If nothing comes out, you're low. If oil starts coming out, you're probably OK for now. Shove your thumb in the hole to temporarily stop the leak. In either case, the plug is usually magnetic. Use the flash light to inspect it for metal shavings. Metal shavings are bad, but these trucks are tough and a worn rear end is usually a long and drawn out death (not quick and catastrophic).

If you have the time, consider pulling off the rear cover and changing the differential fluid completely. If the rear end was submerged at some point, there's a better-than-decent chance some water and nasty stuff might be floating around in there. Do yourself a favor and clean things out and refill it with royal purple or some other synthetic oil. I had a little growling/crunching from my diff and doing this made a night and day difference for me.

medeski

bjafeman: thanks for this great response. as soon as it gets light in the morning i will try this, as far as twisting the crankshaft, the yokes dont have any give or play, it spins the whole piece connected to the differential and the tranny as well, but not much

94'snap: i am not sure about the problem persisting even after the truck turns off, on the way to the parts store tomorrow i am for sure going to have trouble with the gears, so ill try it then.

does anyone have any ideas on getting the broken screws for the caliper out of the truck?