I have an 05 ranger 3.0 with an automatic tranny. Every once in a while it will shift hard and ive had it drop out of gear on me while I was driving a couple times. All I had to do was put it in neutral and then back in drive and it was fine. This has been my trusty little go to truck for a while so Ive been letting my gf drive it to work. Last night she calls and says it wont go into drive or reverse but if you manually put it in 1st and second its fine and still has plenty of power. Reverse and drive, not so much. Didn't know if im on the right track by thinking its the shift solenoid or not. Im not much of a transmission guy. Any advise would be great. Thanks

 

You have the 5R44E transmission and it needs to be rebuilt, it for sure isn't shift solenoids.

Good read here on what people have tried: Help Please - No Reverse or Drive But 1&2 Work - Ford Explorer and Ranger Forums "Serious Explorations"®
But ultimately your money and time would be better spent on a rebuild or swap.
Manual trans vehicles need clutches at $900 a pop if a shop does it and over 10 year period depending on the miles you could need 3 clutches, so $2,700.
Automatics do need to be rebuilt over time and miles, but it does come in one big chunk unlike clutch replacement

 

I had the same exact thing happen to me on my mustang, the transmissions are very similar and the part that went bad is the exact same part number in both of them.. It is called the overdrive sprag, It is a one way clutch that cost about $30. I made a video that goes into detail, Here is the link.. I know its too late for you but hopefully this will help someone else having the same issue..
It started as you said car driving perfectly normal , but a few times when i stepped on the gas hard it dropped out of gear like it was in neutral.. then one day my wife called and said she made it home but the car wouldn't move any more.. I swapped the fluid and filter and test drove it in 1-2-3 manual, but had no reverse, drive, or over drive.. I have since replaced the sprag, and the car is now driving again..