89 F150 manual transmission noise

Hi,

The truck is an '89 F150 4WD with 302 and a 5-speed manual transmission. I'm assuming it is the Mazda tranny (Mazda M-50D, would this be R1 or R2?), since I did find a picture of the ZF-5 unit and that does not look right. Mine doesn't sound like the typical Mazda problem though, in that it has not been low on fluid. The symptoms are a terrible sound (like a washing machine full of ball bearings) in

3rd gear. Fourth and fifth are fine, but third sounds ugly. Is this a common problem with these? All I find on usenet is the draining issue and references to it being a bad/weak transmission with no other specifics.

I'm also seeing references to the ZF-5 as being "bullet proof" but was told that they cannot be (easily?) swapped. Is this true? I'm guessing that major transmission work would exceed blue-book on the truck, but do like the truck other than that. Anybody know any other options? I'm in the midwest so manual transmissions are in short supply (so a junkyard tranny probably can't be found even if I would trust it) and I don't know of a major rebuilder (such as Jasper) within a few hundred miles.

Reply to
Hank
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I do not know what transmission you have, but I doubt it is the Mazda unit.

I think the F150 is far too demanding for the Mazda unit, especially in the

4WD truck. The 4-spd transmission in the F150 and F250 was for a very long time the NP-435, this is a very stout 4-spd unit with a granny low 1st Gear. I _think_ the 5-spd transmission was the T-5, and I might be mistaken, but I was thinking Borg-Warner instead of Mazda.
Reply to
Jeff Strickland

On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 04:02:01 +0000, Jeff Strickland rearanged some electrons and created:

The T-5 was not used in the F-150. My 1989 F-150 4x4 I6 (which has long since been sold) had a Mazda-built transmission as I recall. I believe the V8 models used the ZF transmission.

Reply to
david m

Shows you where you can be wrong! It's the mazda unit. The first three words in your reply are the key. To answer the OP's question, the ZF unit will fit, and it was optional on F150. There are 3 versions, the 460, the diesel, and the windsor. Obviously he'll need the windsor version. They claim it sometimes has problems with reverse getting worn out, and popping out of overdrive. Those would be the things to look out for on an old, worn-out ZF.

Reply to
Joe

Thanks. Would a ZF be a better bet than another Mazda unit? (or rebuilding this one, I'm not actually sure I can find either.) I know where a ZF is, but I think it's hooked up to a blown 460. Would that just require a bell-housing swap, or do I need the small block version?

Were the 4 speeds an overdrive those years? What would I be giving up if I went w/ one of those?

Thanks

Reply to
Hank

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