Hi there, just looking through the forum and generally gathering intel for my build. It will come down to either a 1998-2000 or a 2001-2003. My research showed that Ford/Mazda changed the transmission internals for the 2001 generation (for manuals M5OD-R1). From what I can see there are two major changes:
- the newer output shaft has a magnetic cog that delivers the signal for the OSS. They *SEEM* mechanically compatible, except the newer one is thicker around the cog which requires a newer tail housing with a larger diameter inner hole. Can anyone confirm the compatibility? (old shaft in new transmission, just loosing the OSS)
- the newer transmission has carbon lined synchros. Not sure if all of them or just 1st and 2nd. I read everything from "worst idea ever" (see https://www.ranger-forums.com/drivet...e2/#post765510) to that they provide smoother shifting and better wear resistance.

Here is my thinking. It seems that getting replacement/rebuild parts for the newer generation is a PITA leaving alone extremely expensive. One actually *CAN* get output shafts for the older generation for the new one there seems none available. All together I'm leaning towards trying to source a Ranger from the 1998-200 generation just for the sake of simplicity and parts supply.

I'm basically looking for more detailed info about compatibility between and opinions about the different generations of the M5R1.

Thanks in advance.

 

M5OD-R1 2WD had speedo cable hook up until 1997, although it was only used for VSS from 1995-1997.

Yes around 2001 Rangers got OSS on 2WD, so used a tone wheel instead of worm gear on tail shaft but was not aware that size of tail shaft changed?
No reason to change it but if shaft has a different part number then they did.

All Rangers had the VSS on the rear axle for ABS, and it was used for computer and speed from 1998 and up so unless you are swapping rear axle for one without a VSS you don't need to worry about which generation of M5OD-R1 you use

You can use one of these, if needed: Universal Speedometer Signal Interface

They can hook to rear axle VSS signal and feed whatever you like, computer, speedo/odo or cruise, with corrected speed, also good for changing tires sizes at will, lol.

4x4s have speed sensor in transfer case so different can of worms on which years to use

OSS and VSS sensors are the same, Variable Reluctance(VR) sensors, they "read" a tone wheel, it is a ring with teeth evenly spaced, when a tooth passes a VR sensor it creates an AC electrical pulse, so these sensors generate their own AC Voltage, AC, alternating current, cycles above and below 0volts, how fast a VR sensor cycles is what is used for "speed"
VSS = vehicle speed sensor
OSS = output shaft speed

The reason the OSS is not called a VSS is because it served a different purpose, mainly for automatics, so computer could calculate ratio being used because it also had input shaft speed sensor and intermediate shaft sensors.
The rear axle VSS was used for speedo/odo until mid-2000s when GEM was removed and Smart Junction box was used, and even then some speedos still used rear axle VSS

 

Thank you for the insight. From your info I extract that I can use any transmission I want because I can get me a VSS signal from the rear axle (which is a 99 explorer sport with a sensor) that I can manipulate to anyway I need it.
The way I understand is that in 1998-00 the rear wheel sensor was used for both, ABS input and Speedo signal, by the way that the rear axle signal was fed to the GEM which converted it and then fed it to the PWM for ABS and Automatic tranny shift points and was also used for the speed/odo cluster, which basically makes the PCM a consumer of a previously corrected signal. In the 2001-2003 (and possibly later) The VSS signal gets send to the PCM where it is corrected for final gear and tire size and then sent to the cluster and other costumers (ABS module for reference). Given that is the case I think it won't matter what I end up with because I can always take a rear axle signal, send it through a signal converter and prepare it for whatever consumer necessary. That would effectively eliminate the need for an OSS signal and I'm free to use the easier to obtain and cheaper to get pre-2001 hardware.

Regarding the tail housing and the diameter for the VSS enabled outputshaft, I got my info from here: How to: - Everything I know about the M5OD-R1 & BW1354M Ford Explorer and Ford Ranger Forums - Serious Explorations Seems very legit. If I'm right I can use a non-VSS output shaft going through whatever available tail housing (because a thinner shaft will fit through a wider housing).