I have a 97 f150 5 speed 2wd. I went to put her in 2nd gear and the shifter came all the way back and hit the seat, she missed gear and just uped the rpms when i hit the gas but she went nowhere. i was locked out of every gear at that point. I dropped the tranny and am putting in a new clutch. what i cant figure out is what happened to the shift rails to cause this to drop like that. when i pulled them out i came see that when i try to engage second the stub shifter missed and the rail rolls to the side. she just slides by and doesnt engage, almost like a roll pin was broke but upon inspection they all look good, what else could be causeing it not to catch and lock into gear?

 

Just so we are clear. The shift forks push the syncro assemblies to engage the gears. The shift gate gets pushed by the shift lever. Both the shift forks and the shift gates are pinned to the shift rod. The pins are sheared off. You will have to remove the rail and replace the pin(s). Get a shop manual so you disassemble things in the correct order. If not you might be chasing little ***** and springs all over the floor.

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upon further inspection, also known as sober inspection, the roll pin for the shift forks was missing, the parts store gave it to me for nothing he just laughed cause he knew exactly what i was up to. just put the pin in and now amazingly i have 1st and 2nd gear again, cant wait to get this tranny back in so i can beat it some more and brake something else, thanxs for the input JMC, this tranny seems like its fairly simple to work on my next ???? would be are there any upgrade kits for the m5r2 tranny?

 

Unfortunately there is nothing to my knowledge that is available. before I would spend any coin for upgrades i would get a ZF 6spd from a Super Duty.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

Yeah, the m5od is an easy tranny to work on.

I also know of a shop that will beef this tranny up in my local area. If they do a good job for a reasonable price, I'll forward you to him.

 

what's involved in bolting this up to the 4.2L in a 2000 F150?

PS i'm told the input shaft for the M5OD is weak. has anyone had it fail, and if so, how does it fail? does it break, wear out early, what?