90 Ranger with 5 speed manual, Every thing works as it should untill you put it into 5th, lift the clutch pedel and you fine, the tac responds and I asume your now in gear, but press on the gas pedel to give it a load. whhhhhiiiinnnkkk and the gear selector kicks back to netrual.
Also I did remove an inspection panel from bottom center of the tranz and could see no sighns or damage, rounded or broken teeth.
It’s been sugested that it’s just time to re do the clutch, if so why do all the other gear selections work with out any problems?
2.9 v6 w/95k and I don’t know the history.
Thanks.
Either the hub is not fully engaging or it is badly worn. Most likely it is badly worn. And although a dragging clutch will shorten the life of syncro hubs the difficulty shifting into reverse would motivate taking care of the clutch before losing 5th gear, it would seem. Under 55 mph the overdrive won’t be missed much but at 70mph the fuel mileage will drop noticeably.
I’ve been told this is a sign you will soon need a new transmission, and you might as well just use something, like a bungee cord, to keep it in 5th gear to postpone the cost of replacing the transmission.
If the shifter jumps to neutral as soon as the accelerator is pushed the problem is likely beyond a bungee cord holding it in OD.When they jump out of gear at coast down the bungee might work good. My SWAG is that a driver used a seat position that made it difficult to fully engage OD and often released the clutch short of engagement, stripping the cogs on the hub and gear.
This could also be caused by a worn shift fork and worn synchronizer sleeve. This can be caused by resting your hand on the gearshift lever while it’s in 5th gear. The weight is multiplied by the lever, the shift rail rides off the detent a little bit, and the fork starts scrubbing the sleeve which then creates the wear.
If you have this habit and if this is the case the only fix is to repair or replace the transmission; usually the latter as it’s more cost effective.