New Tacoma Shifting Question

Ok so I just took delivery of a 2013 Access Cab 4x4 5 speed. I LOVE IT!!!! However before I let you guys spend all my money on MODS I have a question. When letting go of the clutch easing into 1st it goes from nothing to just grabbing the gear all at once. Will this wear in or break in? Also from 1st to 2nd i have to get rpms to about 3G to avoid hearing a thump when I press the clutch. All other gears shift fine at 2G. Even when I am really focusing on making everything nice and fluid with my shifting it is hard to not feel it. The truck has 80 miles on it. What do you think. Time will fix or problem??

 

The 5 spd manual tranny is solid, but not as smooth as modern trannies, and can be a little clunky at times. Some claim changing out the tranny oil helps, and or using certain types will make it shift smoother. I did not notice any difference when I upgraded my tranny oil...

 

The clutch 'grab' should get a little better with time and wear, although rainy days will bring back that behavior years later.

That thump shifting from first gear.... yeah, that's annoying. At least it doesn't have nearly as much rev hang as the six speed trucks where imperfect timing will cause a 'thump' with every shift.

 

There are 2 types of clutches that Toyota puts in the 2.7L. One is a LUK - piece of crap Mexican made clutch that will fail. The other is the AISIN - Japanese made. My truck had the LUK from the factory. It started slipping around 20K miles. The LUK never grabbed 1st gear all at once as you explain. It was a soft feeling clutch. I had it replaced under TSB about 2K miles ago with the AISIN.

The AISIN is a quality clutch and it grabs 1st gear all at once. It took me a while to get used to it, and I'm still caught off guard every now and then. Sounds like you have the AISIN clutch, be glad. I can't answer if it will soften over time.

The thump you are referring to happens on BOTH clutches from my experience. It also happened on my 1987 FJ60 Toyota Landcruiser 4 Speed. A good way to get around having to rev your engine so high is to do a "fake shift". When your shifting from 1st to 2nd and you get to neutral, hesistate for a second - I kind of just let my shifter float over to the center position a bit and then I go down to 2nd gear.

It works like a charm. It is just really a 1-2 sec hesitation. I don't know if its a Toyota truck thing but I felt like it was because my FJ60 did the exact same thing.

P.S. I drove a Mustang 5 speed for 8 years before I got my Tacoma. I had to keep reminding myself that my new truck was not a sports car, once I started treating it like a truck instead of a Mustang, the Tacoma straightened right out on shifting.

Let me know if that works out for you.

 

My 2013 has a grabby clutch with a narrow friction zone as well. It does feel smoother now (at 7K mi.), but I am not sure if it's because I have gotten used to it or if the clutch has broken in. The shifter was really notchy at first too, but now is buttery smooth.