ok i have a bunch of things. please help me out with info.

1-i have an 08 4.2L V6 f150 with the 5 spd manual, what tranny is this?
2-are there any other vehicles with this tranny in them?
3-it is a 5 spd, is the 5th gear OD or is it an actual 5th gear? i have been driving 85-100mph in 5th and someone told me i could blow my tranny doing that. he said to keep it in 4th gear but my rpms are at 4k at 100mph in 4th.
4-my truck has a speed limiter at 100mph. i know this is for the tire's speed rating. i had a friend tell me that they also limit the speed for the transmissions. he said you can ruin a transmission by going too fast. i know it is true to a point but its limiter is 100mph, what if i wanted to do like 130mph? anybody know if it would handle that speed?
5-what is the highest rpms i should so in 5th or OD(depending on what it is)
6-anybody know why ford didnt make a 6 spd manual for trucks? my 04 heritage had a 3.08 rear end and was about 1800rpms in 5th @ 65mph. my 08 has 3.55LS rear end and is at about 2100rpms. you would figure they would make a 6 speed manual to lower your highway rpms like say if you want to keep up with traffic instead of going 65 on the highway.
all info is appreciated, thanks

 

1. M5OD-R2
2. F-150's with 4.2, 4.6, 4.9 and 5.0 going back close to 20 years. A lighter duty version has been in the Ranger/Explorer for years too.
3. It is an actual 5th gear, but it has an overdrive ratio of 0.8:1. That "someone" is full of p00p.
4. Another friend that's misinformed.
5. I don't care how much you modify that 4.2, it will never pull even close to redline in 5th - in fact, it probably wouldn't hit redline in 4th unless you seriously regeared. DO NOTE that it is known as a light duty transmission, the input shaft is somewhat weak, which is why they never offered it with any bigger engines, and dropped it in the NBS 4.6's.
6. Not cost-effective. Ford does not make that transmission, they buy it from Mazda. If you want a 6 speed, that's what the ZF is for in the Super Duty. The ZF will not fit in the tunnel in a F-150.

 

thank you very much. i have seen you on many many posts and have always taken you seriously. this "raptor" guy told me about the blowing the tranny part. he seems like he may be kinda young. i am 24 and i know about cars on paper but i couldnt tell you how to rebuild anything.

and i know i will never top out 5th gear. i figured out my 04 heritage would top around 170mph if it had the power with 3.08 rearend. this 3.55 rearend maybe like 155-160 but unless i get high performance everything in my engine, thats not even close to happening. and i think i can get my 08 to about 120-125mph with a long enough road. my 04 would have some trouble maybe getting to 115. i had it to 108, still had pedal but it was struggling a little plus it took some time and distance to get there. my 08 is about 5 seconds quicker to 100mph than my 04 was. and even at 100 in 4th, it still wants to GO. i still have plenty of pedal left on that truck at 100.

 

a few more things...
-in my 04's manual, i found a paper saying the transmission was replaced for a defect at 11k miles. if the tranny is really close to 20 yrs old, you would figure theyd have all the bugs worked out of it.
-also how much hp do you think i can add without harming my tranny?
-and is there any other manual tranny's that will line up with the 4.2L?

 

this is what he had for a reply.
Quote:
Originally Posted by timmypstyle
1-why?? 100mph in 4th gear is 4000rpms, i think 5th is like 3000 at 100
2-is is OD or is it 5th gear? on the shift **** it says 5th. but is it really still overdrive? i drive 85mph everywhere pretty much and never had a bad effect.
3-what is the highest rpms you should go in 5th?
4-what about autos, they have OD and they dont stay in 4th when you are going that fast. at least non of my 3 vehicles with autos ever did.
thanks

reply
1-if 100mph on 4th yields 4000rpm, then you either get used to it or dont do it at all. its a truck, its not meant for racing. 4th is a non-direc drive gear. Non direct drive gears increase torque multiplication at the expense of higher engine rpm and thus, decreased fuel economy. so it can handle the stress, 5th is a not, it is a drive gear giving up its torque for fuel economy. see below

2- 5th gear in the M5OD is overdrive. IE is has a very small final drive ratio that is used as a low-power gear to conserve MPGs. if you put all 165 ponies on it at 100mph you are going to strip it or burn it out.

3- I'll go up to 90 if im in a hurry (dunno what that is with 3.55, maybe 3K?), but you have no power, i sometimes keep it in 4th so when i let off the gas the truck will decelerate rapidly in addition to my brakes. i'd say if you are knocking 3K in 5th to downshift and just eat the higher gas consumption

4- for the autos, when they race, they click the "OD off" button, so it only goes up to 4th gear. racing an auto with OD enabled is going to kill it. i remember once built54 having a conversation about this after he raced his supercharged 5.4L vs a supercharged Tahoe or something. NO OD- EVER!

 

Whoever that person is hasn't a clue what he is talking about.

Well, the M5OD-R2 was still offered on the 2003's with the 4.6, which put out 231 HP and 293 TQ. Considering your 4.2 is 202/260 you have room to play with.

I don't think you will have an issue with it - it's a very reliable tranny if NOT ABUSED. Abuse is doing something like putting one behind a L motor or trying to tow a 6000# trailer with it.

 

thanks. abuse....hmmm. cant peel out from tire hop, have owned 5 trucks and only ever hauled 2 loads of wood and some furniture, never towed anything. only thing i do is race or drive fast lol, no ramping it or off roading. all i have now is a CAI with a helper tube so i might be getting like 210ish HP maybe a tuner later on and working on my exhaust to make it fake duals, still using stock muffler and stuff, it doesnt sound bad on its own. i will do my exhaust before i do a tuner. just dont trust a tuner without letting the truck breathe better before adding all that power. other than that, probably nothing happening performance-wise on this truck. maybe later on finding a better cam or something but not for awhile

 

Drive as fast as you want - it's your neck (but don't race anywhere near me) - but don't try to bang shift it. That's rough on any manual tranny. The mods you are talking about here are "casual" mods, and I doubt any of those will put the tranny near its limits. However, if you started throwing serious bucks at it - like a blower - that might be a different story.

 

bang shift? ive never heard that before, is that basically shifting without using the clutch? i think i know what you mean but just never heard that term before. and not trying to be mean at all but if i HAD serious bucks, i wouldnt buy a V6 f150 nor put my serious bucks toward it. only thing that would be cool is racing people then winning and then telling them their V8 truck, or car just got beat by a V6 but that would take a bit to do.

 

Bang shifting is any kind of shifting that's abusive - without the clutch, yanking the lever hard and fast, grinding gears, etc. It's not a racing tranny, it's a light duty truck tranny.

 

i have tried yanking it from 1st to 2nd, it wont go into 2nd. you have to let it click out then click it down into 2nd. only tried it like twice so now i know theres a timing to it. and i NEVER shift without using the clutch. i have heard so many people tell me that i dont NEED to use it. but i just think of it as, hey all of them dont have the vehicle they did that to anymore. so how do they know if it screwed it up or not?