What manual transmissons are people running in their Rangers? I'm running the toyo-kogyo with the aluminum pan. I've swapped in a d44 and will be running a 9", 5.40 gears. 36"-37" tires. What is a good five speed that will bolt to the 2.3L bellhousing and not break? I'd like to hear from someone with experience with this kind of build.

well you can put a np435 in there :rolleyes:
















































































just as soon as you swap in a 302 :D

actually theres no other tranny out there that you can swap in thats better than what you have :nuke: there all about the same :(

You're pretty much stuck with what you have. I have the toyo kyogo tranny behind a 3.0L and running 36x14.50 Swampers. No problems at all with the t-case or tranny, only I can't use 5th gear anymore, because the mouse under the hood can't keep enough rpms to keep the tires turning. Sorry, but your stuck.

Dean

With enough money you could put any transmission behind that 2.3 but it wouldn't be practical cause it would wind up costing you 5 times as much as more practical options like v-8 swaps or an atlas tcase.

The ranger’s 5 speeds actually aren’t all that bad for what they are. My ranger had a 4.0, 5spd and stock tcase with d44 and 9” running 5.43’s locked f&r with 35’s & then 38’s. It’s in pieces now cause I got tired of breaking my d44. I ran it this way for 2 years and I’ve been very very hard on it and the trans itself has never had a problem, all I’ve managed to do was smoke my clutch which was a given since I only have a stock tcase and not a doubled up tcase. I’m not sure what kind of wheeling your intending on doing, but where your setup will fall short on the rocks is first the 2.3 is a :rainbow: motor that can’t get out of it’s own way. I had a 2.3 and I pulled it and threw it away cause it has no business what so ever in a rock rig. Second will be lack of crawl ratio. Since you’re already putting in the 5.43’s then only places you can drop crawl ratio is the trans and tcase.

I’m assuming you want some crawl ratio, so here’s your options as I see them.

A. keep your motor and trans and buy an atlas 2 for $2,500 and bam you’ve got a 90:1 crawl ratio. But you’re 2.3 doesn’t have much torque and 90:1 will not be all that great of a crawl ratio for this motor. Good thing about this setup though it would enable you to still have 5th gear and get down the highway at a decent speed. If it’s going to be trailer trash then this is a mute point.

B. throw away you’re 2.3,5spd and bw tcase and swap in the v8 of your choice with a 4spd thats got a compound low and a decent tcase. Don’t forget about c4\6 automatics here either. So Good crawl ratio etc, bad for highway.

C. swap in an automatic and limp along for awhile with it being under geared and under powered. The auto with just one stock case would half way mask the problem for now but it’s not the end all answer.

D. get your hands on a ranger c5 transmission, put a tail shaft and adapter on it from an early bronco c4/5 transmission so you could use a dana 20 tcase and have more options available.

E. custom work to get two ranger tcases or a ranger tcase and say a dana 20 mated together

E. custom work to adapt any trans you want for $$$$

My situation: I tossed my 2.3 and 5spd and bought a 4.0 with a 5spd (bellhousing etc is different) that cost me 3 grand for the whole swap. 2 years later and I really need to increase my crawl ratio and now I’m going to pay for it. All the above options are what I am or have considered over the past. I have personal a friend who is a machinst and is going mate two tcases up for pretty much nothing. Honestly if I was in your shoes, it’s probably cheaper in the long run do a v8 drivetrain swap and be done with it. Unless you love your 2.3 to death and never want to get rid of it or you want to say you still have ranger motor trans tcase etc.