Thanks Paul. You make a lot of sense. I'll get the fluids changed at 60,000 mi. and we'll see how it does.

I'm impressed with this forum and all the responses. You guys are great! thanks again, Ernie

 

I bought my 2.3 5 speed 2010 Ranger brand new (I factory ordered it), and I have this exact same problem, most notably in stop & go morning rush hour traffic. It annoys me a lot! As long as its still under warranty, I keep going back to the selling dealership for service,( even though I am a Brand X dealership mechanic myself), to keep a maintenance "paper trail" in case of problems while under warranty. I mention the problem every time I go back to the dealer, they always come back with "could not duplicate customer complaint". I have been driving since 1973, and have had mostly Fords with manual transmissions, 3 speed non syncro, 3 speed full syncro, Toploader 4 speeds, T5s, NP435 truck,Jerico 4 speeds in my drag cars, as well as the Ranger 5 speeds. My 50`s Fords, and my 74 F350 have non syncronized low gears, so I expect them to require some effort to get into low gear, BUT a fully syncronized trans should not require that. None of my 69-70 Mustang with 4 speeds, nor the T5s that I swapped into a few 302 Fairmonts were hard to get into gear, I can not believe that my 2010 Ranger should be.
As for ATF, almost all the BW T5s used in the 5.0 Mustangs used Dextron/Mercon ATF, and they work just fine. Most T5s use paper linings for the syncronizer material, and are designed to be used with ATF, heavier gear oil is NOT a good idea. That is fine for the older Toploaders, which used bronze syncronizers, but not with the paper, or later carbon fiber syncros. I don/t know what the Rangers trans have for syncro material, but with ATF, I bet its not bronze.
As for the older MoPar manual transmissions using ATF, that actually started in the 60s. I have owned 2 Plymouths with the A833 4 speeds, and the use of ATF was likely used to make these clunky MoPars trans shift half decently. Although the MoPar 4 speeds were very strong, they shifted like trucks compared to a Toploader. The lighter ATF made them a bit nicer to shift .

 

Rory, that's it exactly. Very annoying when it won't go into gear and is bound NOT to do it when you take it in. I wonder sometimes if I am taking years off of the syncro by getting mad and pushing it harder. But when I have time I'll pull it back part way into 2nd and then back into 1st. I heard that a couple of different brands of transmissions were used on the assembly line. Has anyone else heard that?
Thanks guys, Ernie

 

I always go down through the gears on my 06 and have no problem going into first at a stop. Have 61k on it. A Mustang we had back in the 90's speced 10w30. So a lot of fluids will probably work. I am currently running Mobil 1 ATF with no shift problems.

 

Down shifting while still moving isn't ever a problem. It just shows up when stopped and then going for low gear.