Hey guys,

Well I am back again with another dilemma. When coming home the other day and trying to downshift to turn into my neighborhood, my truck is stuck solid in 4th gear. I could not budge it at all. I have taken the gear shift out and tried to look down inside from the top but lets face it. I don't even know what I am looking for. I have tried to free it every way I know how and it is stuck. I have visually inspected the clutch to be working fine through the inspection hole on the trans housing. I am taking the transmission out. (5spd manual) and going to rebuild it. I have NEVER done a transmission before. Would I be in over my head? How complicated is it. Also, I realize it may be in the shifting plate (top of trans) and need to rebuild that part as well. Any ideas or advice. Cheddar~

 

I would trust myself pulling the tranny off of my truck, driving it to a shop and doing a core exchange for a rebuilt transmission, then re-installing it. Probably cost about 1200 bucks. But that's me.

 

Start by clicking this, reading the caption, inspecting the truck, and collecting EVERY detail about it to put into your signature here:


(phone app link)

If we don't know what you have, we can't give you good suggestions. But it doesn't sound like you're ready to dive into something as complicated as rebuilding a transmission. I've been a pro for several years, and I've only built 1 stickshift (NO slushboxes, and hope to keep it that way). And even more-importantly - nothing you described makes it sound like the trans NEEDS to be rebuilt. Maybe the shifter, but probably not the whole trans.

 

I'm in my late 60's have worked on cars and trucks all my life starting by fetching tools for my Dad. Worked during high school in a shop doing light repairs. worked about a year in a new car dealership as a full time mechanic, and that repair would be over my head. If I broke my 5 speed I'd find a used one that still worked, or as BLDTruth said a rebuilt. I'm sure they are designed to be repaired by humans, but I suspect; only highly trained humans, with a lot of special tools.

 

Dang it. I didn't notice any of these posts until this morning. I pulled the tranny last night with the help of my 15yr old son. It is sounding like the rebuild could be quite complicated? The truck is a '93F150 ext cab. 302motor 4x4 with 5spd manual. (M50-R2 I think). Truck has about 200,000 miles on it. Put a new clutch in about 30,000 miles ago. I don't want to sink a lot of money into it but at the same time whatever I need to do I will do as I am in no position to buy something else. I have been pricing some rebuilts online they range from $650-$1800. Hard to know which one to get with that price gap. To have mine rebuilt is being quoted from $750-$1500.

 

Yes its an M5ODR2.

You could have rockauto deliver one to your door for $1250, $300-ish of which you could recoup in core charges.

Use that as your leverage with the tranny shops.

Rebuilding a tranny is no easy task - it takes precision skill and tools. You are stuck in a spot where you aren't really sure what is wrong with it, so you are faced with the decision of having someone open it up and fix it, which could end up being a quick fix, or it could just end up costing you a couple hundred more dollars to figure out its buggered anyways and now you still have to get a new tranny.

If its the original tranny, and it has 200K miles on it, then it is probably time for a new one anyways. The one I had in my truck quit at 130k.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

Don't guess. Follow the links in that caption, and identify what you've got. The Mazdog looks exactly like this:


(phone app link)

If the case shape or ribs don't match that, it's something else. Post pics of what you have, including the ID tag on it.


(phone app link)That's not enough to wear out any transmission.Put your location in your profile. A couple of years ago, I found a professionally-rebuilt one in-stock locally for ~$600. The truck was back on the road in a couple of days.


(phone app link)

 

I've got one of those here with the exact same issue. M5OD R2 4x4 trans stuck in 4th gear. This tranny and the transfer case were obviously rebuilt in recent history but it appears the synchros between 3rd and 4th are messed up. It'll move on 4th but won't cross the synchro - it jams up there.
I'm not going to bother fixing a trans just to sell it, but I did look up a few writeups and videos on how to do it. Doesn't look overly complicated and all I saw for specialty tools was maybe a puller to get the bearing off. You could probably do it.
If shopping for a used trans, make sure it's for a 4x4; the 2WD one has a different tailshaft in it.

 

Ok, just an update and FYI. I decided to have a shop rebuild my current trans. I dropped it and took the top plate off (shifter mechanism) and just as I suspected it is the shifter assembly that is bound up. the trans shifts fine and looks pretty good but, the input shaft has a little play and I need this truck to last quite awhile in order to hit my financial goals so I have decided it would be best to rebuild the whole thing. I really wanted to try and do this myself however, my time or lack there of made the decision for me. I will update with cost as they come in so anyone down the road can get an idea.

QUESTION: What is everyone's thoughts on the TRANSFERCASE? It leaks a little bit. How hard is it to replace the gasket between the two halves? Should I have the trans rebuilt as well?

 

if you can remove the transmission you should have the tools and skill to rebuilt a transfer case.