Transmission Help PLEASE! 96 ranger 3.0

[Billydroveit]

My father in law had his sons "buddy/guy" Rebuild the trans in his Ranger work truck beater. Not sure what trans it is, i can find out if need be. ANyway, this clown rebuilds the trans, father in law picks it up, drives it home and parks it in the shop. Comes back next day went to back out of shop, no reverse. Truck drives fine forward as far as i know, but no reverse. "clown/buddy/guy" Disappears into no mans land and cant get in touch with him. So now i'm stuck with trying to figure out what went wrong. I'm not a trans guy, so any help would be appreciated.


Thanks In Advance.

[Detroit Gearbox]

Need more detail other than no reverse.
The trans is a 4r55e... very common to "break" the low reverse band.
It also common to mis-assemble the trans and improperly line up the servo with the band (in the car fix).... but seeing how someone has worked on it before anything is possible.

Heres a cheap quick fix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0FMNOZNOAI

[Billydroveit]

Need more detail other than no reverse.
The trans is a 4r55e... very common to "break" the low reverse band.
It also common to mis-assemble the trans and improperly line up the servo with the band (in the car fix).... but seeing how someone has worked on it before anything is possible.

Heres a cheap quick fix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0FMNOZNOAI

What more detail do you need, i'm going to talk to him more this weekend. For now all he said is no reverse, otherwise drives normal. If i can't get more info about it from him i'll try and drive it. He's not a car guy, and he usually overlooks things until i drive his cars and point out issues.

Thanks for the help.

[Billydroveit]

I'll let him know about the quick cheap fix!....hahaha

[Detroit Gearbox]

"otherwise drives normal"

If all of the other gears are "normal" that narrows it down a little.
Did he ever have reverse after it was worked on?

[Billydroveit]

Got an update from the in law. The trans was rebuilt 7 months ago and had reverse until last month. All forward gears seems to be fine. He thinks maybe the shift linkage is off. I didn't make it out there this weekend to drive it myself. Hopefully it will be at my house in the next week or so so i can look at it.

THanks for the help, Rich, i really appreciate it.

[Detroit Gearbox]

He thinks maybe the shift linkage is off.

I'm kinda doubting this. Either the shifter is working or its not.
Check the start positions (park & neutral) and see if they are lined up and if the engine cranks in these positions.
Also make sure the engine will rev up in neutral and park.
My guess is a broken reverse band... common to break... hard to fix.
See if there is engine breaking in manual 1 or Low. No engine breaking + No reverse = broke low reverse band.

[Billydroveit]

I'm kinda doubting this. Either the shifter is working or its not.
Check the start positions (park & neutral) and see if they are lined up and if the engine cranks in these positions.
Also make sure the engine will rev up in neutral and park.
My guess is a broken reverse band... common to break... hard to fix.
See if there is engine breaking in manual 1 or Low. No engine breaking + No reverse = broke low reverse band.

When i said off i meant, off position, not physically fell off...lol Should have clarified.

Ok, when he brings it over i will check it all out, thanks for the info.

If i have engine braking, is there a common issue overlooked on rebuild i can fix? Also if the band is broke, whats the long term on the trans, will it survive, or is it a time bomb.

[Detroit Gearbox]

When i said off i meant, off position, not physically fell off...lol Should have clarified.

Ok, when he brings it over i will check it all out, thanks for the info.

If i have engine braking, is there a common issue overlooked on rebuild i can fix? Also if the band is broke, whats the long term on the trans, will it survive, or is it a time bomb.

The shifter alignment can be adjusted improperly but at one point your going to move the shifter into or past the reverse position and get engagement. This one you can diagnosis yourself.
If your able to shift the shifter into the low or 1 range and the engine does not decelerate my guess would be the band is broken. As far as how long you can drive it, as long as the broken portion of the band or the band itself does not wedge itself into the spinning gear train you would be able to drive it indefinitely. Ive seen people drive them this way for years.

[Billydroveit]

THanks, i appreciate the info. He has younger guys driving it who have no mechanical aptitude, so it wouldn't suprise me if the linkage is just off and these kids don't have a clue. Odds are if it's broken im just going to part it out or sell it the way it is, but just in case he wants it fixed PM me a price to range to open it up and fix it. Truck has almost 200K on it.

Again, thanks for the help.