M5R1 wont go in 5th gear after rebuild

Jonboy · Dec 9, 2013

So, I just rebuilt the transmission in my ranger. It works great except it will not go into 5th. If I try to hold it and force it in 5th it still pops out and grinds. Does anyone know what I did wrong. Is there I a simple fix. I followed the build sheet and specs to the tee. I a at a loss as to where to go from here.

Explorin94 · Dec 11, 2013

Do you remember putting a ball bearing in a hole on the main gear shaft before you slid 5th gear on?

Jonboy · Dec 13, 2013

Yes. There were three balls that came out. The detent ball and spring for reverse, one for 5th gear, and the one for the speedo gear. They all went back in. 5th gear is spinning but it kicks the shifter out when gas is applied. Almost as if the slider isn't moving across to get the gear. I put all new synchros in. I just wonder if the clearances were different.

Jonboy · Dec 13, 2013

Here is the kit I used:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190852320821?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Explorin94 · Dec 16, 2013

For what you have described it sure does sound like that detent ball under 5th gear may have fell out when it was going back together. The nice thing about that is you can leave the transmission in the truck to get the tail shaft off.

jpark6491 · Jun 10, 2019

Jonboy said:
So, I just rebuilt the transmission in my ranger. It works great except it will not go into 5th. If I try to hold it and force it in 5th it still pops out and grinds. Does anyone know what I did wrong. Is there I a simple fix. I followed the build sheet and specs to the tee. I a at a loss as to where to go from here.

I am also in a similar situation. All other gears work great but it will not stay in 5th and grinds. Were you able to find a solution to this??

Shran · Jun 10, 2019

jpark6491 said:
I am also in a similar situation. All other gears work great but it will not stay in 5th and grinds. Were you able to find a solution to this??

Was this after a rebuild or did it just start happening?

If it just started I'd suspect first worn or missing shifter bushings and if that doesn't fix it, I'd look at the 5th/reverse shift fork. It may be missing some material off the pads and thus won't move far enough to shift into 5th gear all the way.

jpark6491 · Jun 10, 2019

Shran said:
Was this after a rebuild or did it just start happening?

If it just started I'd suspect first worn or missing shifter bushings and if that doesn't fix it, I'd look at the 5th/reverse shift fork. It may be missing some material off the pads and thus won't move far enough to shift into 5th gear all the way.

I purchased this truck with uncertain transmission issues so was never able to drive it before. Turned out that the input shaft and countershaft gears were toast. I rebuilt the trans with new input/countershaft, bearings and synchros.

I Do need to do some more inspecting of the shifter, I do not think that it got installed completely correct because I was a little over-excited at having finished the transmission finally

Shran · Jun 10, 2019

Gotcha. It's hard to install the shifter incorrectly... it either goes in or it doesn't. But I've seen some with missing bushings that flop all over the place and it's very hard to find any gear.

If you've got all the detent balls and springs in place, I would strongly suspect a worn out shift fork or possibly the slider or gear itself. One that I rebuilt had one side of the shift fork pads worn off.

Transman304 · Jun 10, 2019

Is this the same transmission that had the split retainer that was ground down to fit?

jpark6491 · Jun 10, 2019

Transman304 said:
Is this the same transmission that had the split retainer that was ground down to fit?

Yes...

Transman304 · Jun 10, 2019

You have the incorrect parts or mis assembly. In 30 plus years of building I have never once had to grind parts on a standard to get parts together. Now I’ve used a grinder to get them apart. Lol!

jpark6491 · Jun 10, 2019

I know...probably wasn’t a good idea...f*** me right?

Shran · Jun 11, 2019

Transman304 said:
Is this the same transmission that had the split retainer that was ground down to fit?

Ha! Good catch.

I agree now that there was an assembly issue.

moody blues · Sep 25, 2021

could 5th & reverse slider be in backwards? i found outer sleeve of slider backward, the groove that the shift forks mates with is offset.

M5R1 wont go in 5th gear after rebuild

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