Manual transmission Fan Club and BS thread (All Generations Welcome)

I think URD had a deal going for about $700 for Flywheel and clutch, and maybe the TO bearing? Budget a grand for that just in case. And I lucked out at the transmission place, dude quoted me $500 over the phone, I said I'd be back when I could have the truck down...hit him up a month later, he said ok THEN I told him I'd be supplying my own parts (which I thought I said on the first call but apparently not) and then he got mildly upset because he was gonna charge me probably another $500 or so for a replcement clutch and all that, but he agreed to do it anyways despite adding that "he doesn't install aftermarket parts" and "I must have used some Jedi mind tricks on him to agree to doing it" clutch has been great since he did it, no complaints here. Most place will probably want to charge a grand to $1500 or so for labor and parts. Maybe cheaper, but I'd budget on the high end for that. After looking at how in depth the work is to replace the clutch, I just decided it wasn't something I wanted to learn at that time, plus I had other shit going on and didn't want to have the truck down for several days.

 

Good idea to look at the owners manual. I'm thinking of buying the original shop manual. It comes in DVD format I think. No more paperback manuals I was told by the Toyota parts dept.

Anyway my original 88 Harley shop manual is full of yellow highlighter marking only my exact 88 model references with additional papers added with notes and notations all over the pages that have lost their binding and the manual falls apart every time I open it and I'm forever picking up chunks of pages then reinstalling them back in numerical order.
My Haynes manual on my 87 Chevy Nova is worse. Being in the trunk for 30 years with most of it being outdoors in New Hampshire year round the manual has degraded and gotten moldy.

I don't need a 2016 shop manual because I plan to do so much work on my now new Tacoma myself. But I plan to do some services myself like changing ALL the fluids, maybe brakes but more importantly I just want to know what the Toyota shop is SUPPOSED to do when I bring it in for service. I know they take shortcuts and skip important things that take time like removal of a metal cover with four bolts that give access to a few driveshaft lubrication points etc and that long checklist of maintenance checks they are supposed to check they often do or only do some. They just check the fifty or so checks and send the truck out.

I asked if the mechanics at my shop actually do all the required checks on that Toyota customer service paper. I was told yes. I don't believe it.

Shops make money on quickly turning over cars serviced. Not taking quality time on any one vehicle and the customer isn't allowed behind the wall to watch the mechanic working on your own vehicle--- for insurance reasons I'm always told. So why not a glass window? Why a wall? Not that I myself would like people watching me work for the 32 plus years I worked as a Pepsi mechanic.

I used to tell customers it was $100 an hour for labor ..... $125 an hour if they watched ..... $200 an hour if they made suggestions or helped.
Dannyblues

 

Thanks. How does that stage 3 clutch perform. What's the difference between it and stock? A heavier flywheel I'd assume? Dannyblues

 

True story

 

It engages almost instantly. A little stiffer pedal and about 1/2" of pedal movement right at the end of the travel (up not down) is the engagement zone.
Went with a lightweight flywheel, 18lbs versus the stock 31lb flywheel. Helps increase acceleration at the cost of making it easier to stall. I stalled probably 10 times in the first month before I got the hang of it all.

The difference I feel is way better engagement with the supercharger shifts. With the OEM clutch, sometimes when I was pinning it in between shifts (beating full size trucks) I'd hear it slipping in between gears for longer and longer. Inexperience and fun burned out the clutch, combined with overpowering the clutch force itself.

 

Lighter. Flywheel! I'm surprised. Originally I thought a lighter one would make you go faster as less weight along the drivetrain to move but then I read heavier was better to my surprise; I guess to keep up momentum? Maybe on very big cubic inch engines? I didn't realize the new clutch/ flywheel would take that much getting used to. Thanks I was curious about the heavy duty clutch operation. Best of luck. I drive nice and easy. I really like the heavier weight of a truck. It absorbs the shift inertia unlike the high revving sports jobs I had for so many years; passengers always being pinned in their seats or propelled forward on shifts. I can make shifts imperceptible in the Tacoma only my wife gets scared when I blip the gas on double clutch downshifts. I still havent been able to consistently rev match with the drive by wire throttle. I don't shift like that often enough to get really precise at it but I guess over time I'll get it down. Dannyblues

 

Do you blip once or twice?

 

The light flywheel does make you go faster because of less rotational mass it has to 'spool' up. However, it makes stalling easier. A heavier flywheel had more rotating mass to keep the engine going whereas a lighter flywheel has less so the engine will stall easier if you slip it to much with not enough gas. Hence why the heavier flywheel excel off-road.

 

Hey again guys. Does 3rd feel ever so slightly raspy going in compared to any of your other gears? Thanks!

 

It'll wear in. Mine used to grind and chunk in so much, after a good 10k miles on it, it goes right in now. Every once in a blue moon it'll grind very lightly or not want to go in softly, but usually only when I'm slamming through the gears doing stupid fast stuff.

 

Thanks, if you read a a couple posts back of mine. My truck is brand spanking new (barely 600 miles) and I screwed up 2 shifts by not pushing the clutch far enough and I lightly cooked the synchros. It still goes in easy regardless but this is my first manual transmission vehicle and since it's so new it is making me a little paranoid. Thanks.

 

You can definitely put your mind at ease. I had an '87 Nissan pickup in high school that I taught 6 different people to drive stick with, over the course of about 2 months. Needless to say, there was lots of grinding and clutch hopping, and it still shifted fine after all of it. I drove it for another 3 years after that with zero problems.

 

Awesome, this is my truck btw. What is yours like

 

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And it's a slushbox, lol.

However, this one has an A833 4 speed (reverse is to the left and up):


And this one has an NP435 4 speed (reverse is to the right, and down):

 

The only Gear that does not go easily in mine is Reverse but all of my previous Tacoma's were that way. When it was bitter cold my 2000 would not go into 2nd gear the first run thru but was fine after that.

 

You'd consider your EcoBoost a slushbox? My dad's 2012 is a pretty hot little number... different transmission or something?

 

Slushbox = slang term for an automatic.

This truck definitely has no shortage of get up and go.

But if I want to shift it myself I have to put it in 'manual' mode and push a switch up and down, lol.

 

Hot damn learn something new everyday!

 

Dunno where it originated from. Probably because an automatic uses a torque converter pumping a thick fluid to drive the vehicle, much like a slushy machine stirring.