6spd manual hard shifting

i jam 3rd hard it grinds a little

 

Going into third is my worst gear too

 

Core/Hurst short shifter FTW.

 

I cannot pull off a smooth 1-2 shift at high RPMs. Let me rephrase that, I cannot get the truck into second above 4000 or so. It will just grind.

Not to mention the rev hang thing has pushed the truck into the rev limiter a time or two, further screwing up the process. I wish there was some way to kill that thing and let me control the throttle, not the computer.

Dealership says not enough manual transmission experience on my part. 500,000+ miles in manual transmission toyota trucks isn't enough?

 

When I first got my 2012, shifting from 3rd to 4th gear wasn't very smooth. I installed a URD short throw shifter. It made the shifting a lot better, but it then required 2 hands to put it in reverse (he must work out ).
A few thousand miles later everything loosened up and it no longer requires 2 hands to put it in reverse (or maybe it was the steroids ).
Thanks

 

Now with about 2500 mi on the odometer, mine is a lot smoother. The clunks going into 3rd have disappeared. Both upshifts and downshifts are smooth now with none of the roughness noted earlier. Seems to me the synchros are getting broken-in.

Of course, it will always "shift like a truck" with long throws and objections to fast shifting. I just run a different mental program than I do when shifting my car. It just slows me down to a more leisurely pace.

 

Most of the internet information about the 6 speed Tacoma would indicate that driving one is worse than being beheaded by ISIS or having a rusty piece of rebar stabbed into your urethra. The 4.0L 6 speed drivetrain creates a perfect storm for horrible axle wrap with the generous engine torque, low-ratio 1st gear and infamous floppy OEM leaf springs.

In my experience, axle wrap was 100% responsible for my 6-speed Tacoma's rough, jerky shifting. I didn't notice it on the test drive, but after a few months of jerky 1st-to-2nd gear changes I started wondering why I couldn't shift smoothly despite 20+ years of owning only manual vehicles.

First I changed the transmission oil to Amsoil GL-4 synthetic, which I would have done anyway as part of my maintenance on a "new" used vehicle. That made no difference at all so I got online to see if there was a recall or TSB I might qualify for. That led me to Tacoma World, which led me to the "Goodbye axle wrap" thread:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/298525-goodbye-axle-wrap-mod-aal.html

Once I installed extra u-bolts on the leaf springs just like this:


it completely changed the 6 speed and made it work like the precision piece of Japanese engineering that it is. I drove my friend's brand new 6 speed Tacoma and it was a bit stiffer than my broken-in truck with 45,000 miles when I bought it. To me that's just assurance that the 6 speed won't feel like a piece of shit at 180,000 miles on the clock.

It has been argued that the cheap axle wrap mods will shorten the life of the OEM leaf springs but so fucking what. The faster the OEM leaf springs die, the sooner we can justify the purchase of some nice Dakars.

 

I had my leaf springs replaced lay week, i need to look for this u bolt. Something does seem different about the shifting. What is ale wrapm is that when there is to much load\force in the rear end the the drivetrain and differrnal split apart?

 

The u-bolts are super cheap at NAPA or Vatozone. Here is a youtube video that shows axle wrap way better than it could be explained:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQoRounykJQ

 

Wow, I came so close to getting the 6-speed (My wife who can't drive manuals was even trying to find me one, as she knows how much I love manuals) But after finding this thread, I'm glad I steered away from it.

I felt the same way about my fun weekend car ('13 WRX base) I purchased a few years ago. I loved everything about the car, except the crappy stock shifter. My WRX rowed similar to what was described in this thread about the 2nd gen 6-speed. It felt like you were rowing in a box of gravel 90% of the time, made the car absolutely miserable to drive spiritedly. On top of that there was much more slop in the shifter, for what I felt a purpose built manual trans car should have.

Anyway, sorry for going off on a rant about that car, I'm curious do all 2nd gen V6 manuals, have the same shifter or trans as the now defunct X-Runner? Back in 2008, I almost got an X-Runner, and was into them quite a bit. I never purchased one, as I figured If I'm buying a truck, at some point I will need to haul, tow or go off road. That said, I thought the 6-speed in the X-Runner was pretty nice, and I drove at least 4-5 during my research at the time.

So my question, is this, do all 2nd gen V6 truck have the same manual as the one that came in the X-Runner? Because that shifter was pretty nice.

 

DJB1 did you install the ubolt behind or ahead of your rear axle?

 

Yes, the 6 speed is the same in all 2nd gen V6 Tacomas, but on X-Runners the rear end is spring-under-axle which is much less prone to wrap. Tacomas have lots of faults, but lots of die-hard DIYers who love to figure out solutions to them. I couldn't believe the difference after I spent 15 bucks/15 minutes on the cheap axle wrap mod, which made it feel precise, high-quality and addictive to drive, the way a proper manual gearbox should be. That's why I'm convinced the sad, floppy OEM leaf springs are the problem, not the 6 speed transmission itself.

 

Ahead. If you do the mod, let us know if it works for your truck.

 

I just swapped my stock shifter in for the b&m short shift and I have to say that the shorter shifts definitely improve the smoothness of the clutch catch from 1st to 2nd. A ton less jerking. One somewhat dubious side effect is this real loud chattering.

 

Probably because it does not have the rubber the stock one uses to reduce vibration

 

There's no rubber on the stock shifter. The shifter is pretty much the same except for the geometry.

 

I thought there was a rubber connector in there somewhere and that is what caused the slop?

 

I really do not understand all the complaints with the 6 spd. I have no issues with mine none. No axle wrap no hard shifting no grinding I know where reverse is it gets the same mileage as the automatic on the road at highway speeds 1st is not too low it will go from creep to 30 mph in first I can shift it as fast as my old Corvette guess it's because I have been driving a stick for 52 years and have driven a lot worse try a Mack triplex some time.

 

Does this look abnormal to anyone else? I was gunna mount the extra u bolt but now I'm confused as to where to put it lol take a look at my leaf springs and blocks

 

I don't know if the extra u-bolt is necessary since you already have a set of helper springs. But if you insist, the idea is to clamp the bottom overload spring to the 3-leaf pack.