Locked up m50d-r1

blind029 · Aug 10, 2008

Well I used to be a member of this forum, but i think i was booted for inactivity. Anyways, I currently own an 03 fx4 manual and love it, and i just bought an 89 ranger 4 banger manual trans. I drove it about 20 miles with it stuck in 3rd gear through stoplights cause the freeway was jammed at the time darn it. Even started on a hill from a stop, so yes i smoked the clutch pretty good, it's still usable but i figured on replacing that already anyways. So for those of you cringing already i'm starting up a line of threads for my trans rebuild process. So far the shifter cover is off, and i'm stuck trying to break off one of the bolts from the tailshaft housing that i successfully rounded, and hammering a socket onto it hasn't helped. Which brings me to this point, even if most of your tools are at work, get yourself a six point socket, cause 12 points just don't cut it.

Here's a pic of my 5th gear that got chewed up somewhere, you can see the drive and driven both thrashed

and here's my shift fork that got chewed up too:

As of now i don't have a build sheet for the trans, but i'm pretty sure i can get one, however if anyone can help with that, and a parts distributor it would save me a lot of searching.

metalmacguyver · Aug 10, 2008

Some good carnage pics. FYI, the forum restarted over a year ago and all uses had to reregister.

blind029 · Aug 29, 2008

finally an update

Well i finally got the transmission apart.
It only took a die grinder to remove a rounded bolt on the tailshaft housing, one broken punch and another punch to removed the stakes on the shaft nuts along with the recommended chisel, then when the front cover and all rear gears were out i found the input shaft seized to the mainshaft/output
shaft. So with the appropriate bfh puller and various wrenches and chisels to pry the shafts apart i was able to fully dissassembly the transmission.

the caged bearing that decided it didn't want to work anymore

the shrapnol from my 5th gear

the needle bearings from my departed caged bearing of the input shaft

my new savior donor transmission

the new 5th gear that includes teeth

and finally the new shift fork cover with forks not worn to bits and the appropriate steel rear plugs

So the theory is that this transmission leaked out all the fluid, the two shafts seized together, got really really hot and caused the 5th and 4th gears to be engaged at the same time. Victory of course going to 4th gear, and then the case got nice and hot to cause all the threaded nuts and bolts to be a pain to remove.

So now if you wonder what kind of damage happens when you don't change those plugs, let's just say i trashed an input shaft, synchro ring, one of the gears, and actually probably the whole 1-2 synchronizer assembly trying to get the two shafts apart. So be sure you change those plugs.

AllanD · Aug 29, 2008

Was your first trans trashed?

Well and truely.

But I'm not able to let you off by allowing you to blame the plugs.

It takes a long time to lose sufficient oil in the trans
even if one of the plugs is MISSING.

And I think in some cases the plugs aren't "leaking" but rather VENTING
as some mechanical problem inside the trans generates heat.

Generally if all the oil in the trans leaks overboard it's more often
the tailshaft seal.

the oil can get LOW if the plugs are loose the oil cannot get EMPTY
because of the plugs, not possible.

I've seen a melted trans that had glued in metal plugs.
The owner thought he was "immune" against failure and never checked the oil.

Basically you STILL need to check the tranny oil at EVERY engine oil
change. if you do that one simple thing you don't need to worry about
the transmission melting.... unless you restrict yourself to annual oil changes

AD

Bruce · Aug 30, 2008

Yep you cant blame the plugs if you dont ever check the trans fluid..like Allan says.

That there is the end result of high speed and a lack of grease(or oil in you situation)

Ive seen the input and output shaft seized together where i had to take a torch and cut them in half to get them out of the case.

blind029 · Sep 13, 2008

I'll give you that, the plugs won't let it go dry quick enough that checking your fluid level won't be able to keep you afloat, but i did buy the car used, and there is trans fluid splayed all over the uderside of the truck so he definitely had it leaking for awhile. Which is why i came up with that result.

Yes the original trans was pretty banged up, and after pricing out getting the new 5th gears and now mainshaft or input shaft or probably both, i'm better off getting a used one from the junkyard for 150 bucks that's in pretty good shape, which i did.

Of course like a dope the one i picked up was for a 2.9 and has a different case as i found out, so now i'm basically still rebuilding it and swapping everything over into my case and i'm probably going to need to use some different shims.

I really need to get this going, i've been doing this on weekends for a month now....

Earl43P · Sep 13, 2008

Thanks for sharing.

I've got quite the whiner (except 4th) in my 93.

It was empty when I bought it, with so many shavings on the drain plug.

New slave, flush and fill (RTV'd the rubber shift rail plugs and replaced the rear seal) and I'm driving it (16 miles a day). I'm only keeping it until the 2000 gets fixed.

Might do a tranny rebuild when the 2000 is back on the road, which is why I keep reading these tranny threads. Never done one, but I'm thinking about it.

Doesn't look that complicated.

AllanD · Sep 14, 2008

Bruce said:
Ive seen the input and output shaft seized together where i had to take a torch and cut them in half to get them out of the case.

I've got a 3.0 box just like that on my bench now.

I've concluded that I'll need to torch the input shaft and the output shaft
to seperat them and salvage the case (the only good part)

AD

rboyer · Sep 14, 2008

AllanD said:
I've got a 3.0 box just like that on my bench now.

I've concluded that I'll need to torch the input shaft and the output shaft
to seperat them and salvage the case (the only good part)

AD

Which would be the main reason as to why you obtained it. That is if it's the same one that I am thinking about. I think that the guy who did that "damage" had no concept of hand tools.

Locked up m50d-r1

blind029

Member

metalmacguyver

Yeah, I built that.

blind029

Member

AllanD

TRS Technical Staff

Bruce

Well-Known Member

blind029

Member

Earl43P

Well-Known Member

AllanD

TRS Technical Staff

rboyer

Well-Known Member

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