I hope I don't get booted for this but I trust the info from here.

I helped a freind change the clutch in his 87 Ranger that has failed unuseally early since the last time it was changed. It's a V6, 4WD. When we drained the fluid, it was very thick. My guess is it was 80/90W gear oil, it was thick. I'm sure that was a contributing factor. He said it was very hard to shift on cold mornings. My problem is, I've been told to go back with 30W, which I did. I have since been told that I should have gone with Dex 3. Now I'm doubting myself. He told me that it is acting better than it has ever from a shifting point of veiw.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

why would you get banned for asking a question about a buddies Ford truck?

I wish I had the answer for ya, but I dont know what fluid is to be used with 4wd manual transmissions. I bet google will tell you.

 

If I had to guess, I'd say gear oil in the transfer case and dex in the trans. If you want a definite answer, ask Randy in the parts section.

 

Not sure when the Rangers went w/ the Mazada 5-speed but I'm pretty sure those used gear oil (since from what I remember from my dad's 99 F150, that's what it called for). Also, I don't see how trans fluid has any effect on the clutch.
However, if you're talking about the fluid for the hydraulic clutch linkage (which I'm clueless if Rangers had that back then), then it probably is ATF since Ford likes to use ATF for hydraulic stuff.

 

You'll need to identify which tranny you have. A trip to your local quick oil change shop will find out. Ask them to look up in their Gosha book what fluid type you need. Make sure you physically identify the tranny type. It's probably an ATF tranny. I recall putting gl5 in very few ford transmissions.