2.3 duratec bell housing

[Aharrison26]

Long time reader first time poster, I have owned most ranger combinations, I am on my 15th ranger now. I enjoy fixing them up and passing them on. I have recently ran into an issue over the last few days that I have not been able to find covered anywhere and I think I have got it solved but am looking for a more educated answer. I am currently working on a 2005 ford ranger with a 16 valve 2.3 duratec DOHC that I bought with transmission issues. I fully plan on pulling the 5r44e and rebuilding it but am in need of a ride in the meantime so I bought a salvage truck which was a 2002 ford ranger with the 2.3 as well. The info I was able to find was that the 5r44e offered in 2.3 trucks is the same from 02-11, nothing I found said the there was 3 different bellhousing bolt patterns in those years. I thought it was a direct swap from an 02 to an 05 with the information I found out there. The 02 bellhousing has a starter on the passenger side and a totally different bellhousing pattern. I searched to find out if I could swap the bellhousing and found no info. I ended up swapping the bellhousing from my original transmission and the donor. will this work? I don’t have it back in the truck but it seemed to be a direct fit. I plan on putting it in tomorrow and testing but thought I’d try and get some insight from someone with more experience than myself. Hopefully this will clear up someone else’s confusion as well. My conclusion so far and correct me if I’m wrong, and this is only talking about the 2.3 trucks, is that the 02-04 are the same bellhousing, the 05-06 are the same, and the 07-11 are the same. But all the bellhousing are a direct swap between any of the 2wd 5r44e’s from 02-11. Is this correct?

 

[scotts90ranger]

I've always heard the Duratec's were the same, the Limas have the starter on the passenger side, I have zero experience with the Duratec's though... Wouldn't be unheard of for a 20+ year old truck to have had a cab swap, if you're that many Rangers deep you would be able to identify a Lima though... not sure if I'm helpful lol

Good luck on your ventures, I'm sure someone will weigh in...

 

[pjtoledo]

I can say with certainty that Ranger 2002 2.3 Duratec manual, a 2005 Duratec manual, and a 2010 Fusion 2.5 Duratec auto all have
the starter in the exact same place.
the flex plate for an auto is a few teeth smaller than a manual flywheel, tooth count on the starter is also different to match.

 

[Aharrison26]

In my first post I mistakenly wrote I bought a salvage truck. I meant a salvage transmission. I was not able to identify and confirm the exact engine as it was gone when I got there, something about the information I was given about the donor truck had to be wrong. I know it’s the 5r44e though because it has two sensors. The bell housing that was on the donor had to be from an older truck as the starter was on the passenger side and I believe in 02 they were all on the driver side. After tons of google searching the only bellhousing I can find that matched the one from the donor truck was a for an old A4LD. Which is the same trans just before it was electronic. But I swapped the bell housings, hopefully all goes well tomorrow and it works correctly. I’ve been on a wild goose chase trying to figure out what transmission would work then I bought what was supposedly a direct swap before doing my homework and it bit me but I still might’ve gotten lucky so I guess we’ll see

 

[RonD]

Yes, someone sold you the wrong year 2.3l transmission, but it may not have been their fault

Someone with a 1995/2001 2.3l/2.5l SOHC Lima with a bad transmission could use any 1995-2011 4R/5R44E if they swapped bell housings
So maybe that is what happened, trans was indeed a 2002 model but with a 2.3l/2.5l bell housing swapped on to it

The 4R44E and 5R44E are internally the same and have the same 16 pin wiring connector
In 2001 Ford added 2 extra sensors, externally, the OSS and ISS to the 5R44E(and 5R55E)

A 2001 and up automatic trans computer needs the OSS and ISS inputs
So as long as it has the 2 added sensors and you swap bell housings it will work fine with 2005 computer

But used Automatics are a roll of the dice even in the best circumstances

 

[Aharrison26]

Thank you Ron, it had the sensors and I swapped the bellhousing I got it stabbed and I’m working on torque converter bolts right now. what you said is what I have concluded after all my research. I know the donor truck was running and driving right up until it was parked against a tree so fingers crossed I can get a few miles out of this trans whilst I rebuild the original one. I’ll know the condition here in about an hour and a half

 

[Aharrison26]

It works flawlessly and shifts well so far, gonna do about a 10 mile loop then service the donor trans and hope I get some miles out of it!