What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

@Panchovilla6192002
This is a good point and made me think of something. If you double pump the clutch pedal does that change the smoothness of the shift? If the double clutch helps, likely a clutch fluid needing to be flushed or you have an ever so slight air leak issue in clutch fluid system. Double pumping the pedal can build extra pressure if one pump of pedal doesn't move what it should.

Oh boy Im going on and on. I guess just report if pumping the pedal additional times makes the shifting any different.

 

I think I tried that yesterday with no change. I’ll try it again today. Yesterday it seemed like if I accelerated to get rpms higher first gear would go in easier. I forgot to mentioned that according to the person that I bought it from, the clutch had been replaced not long ago. When the clutch gets replaced, does the fluid gets replaced also?

 

Umm, not usually, unless it's to replace fluid for maintenance or to bleed the air out of fluid, from being opened up for repair.
The new clutch is good info though. Might just need to check the adjustment at the pedal.
If the additional pedal pumps didn't help the shift then likely the hydraulic fluid side is okay, likely.
There's a decent chance it's the original gear oil in the transmission. Might not hurt to change it out. You already replaced the shifter bushing?

 

Trying to find that TW member that makes the 1st gen aluminum battery tie downs.

Having no luck in this forum or the B/T/S ones.

Can someone link me up? Thanks.

 

Dunno who it is but I did see @Speedytech7 just posted up a pic of one he ordered. So he might be able to fill us in here

 

Call off the hounds!!!

found it: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trd-aluminum-battery-hold-downs.494345/

 

Honestly that's how my 04 has always been...first and second go in more smoothly if I shift them above 3k, anything below that and the shift is more rough. I just attribute it to the nature of the truck. It's definitely not as buttery smooth shifting as my manual trans Scion I had before but it's also a RWD/4wd truck and not a FWD coupe, it did take me some time to accept it as being normal.

Unless it's not normal and I've just accepted it either way....could be possible

 

Ya I always thought the general consensus is that MT are not buttery on 1st gens. In order for me to go into first while coasting I have to get it down to like 5 mph. and even then I have to give it a good push for it to slap into gear. If I try to go into second the truck nearly bogs out at the speed. My only gripe but like @eon_blue said above, should be normal

 

Oh yeah for downshifting into 1st you have to nearly be at a stop, unless you really force it in which you don't want to do. But yeah that's normal though for 1st gear

 

I rarely downshift into first. Second is as low as I will go if I'm still moving.

 

Thought it was bad to bog out the truck tho? is it worse to "get it" into first? for me when I dump into neutral going over speed bumps I try to go back into first because with going into second I can feel the whole truck bogging lolol

 

@Coupe

 

He means with downshifting, so like if you're coming to a stop. Some people put it in neutral and come to a stop, some people like to downshift and save the brakes. If I downshift I'll go down to 2nd gear and then put it in neutral and use the brakes until I come to a complete stop.

When you're upshifting you don't want to bog it down by being in a high gear/low RPM scenario

 

Oh and sometimes when I park on a slope I have to pull e brake and let the truck roll a bit to go into R. Sure that's normal but this is my first MT

 

Yup, already in touch with him via PMs

 

Reverse can be finicky on these trucks...I sometimes have to clutch it 2 or 3 times from a stop to get it to grab reverse.

 

OHHH.. My bad still drinking my coffee I'm dumb lol. Ya I havent even tried going to 2nd for engine braking, I've only gone to third. Might try second now if it aint too bad then, thanks! So then in my circumstance I was describing , I really am not doing something dumb right? always feel so weird having to give it a go to go into first, and the RPMS it hits at like 5 mph are actually good, vs second like I said.


And I just saw the response about Reverse, thank you for the reassurance! I have to do that as well, glad to know it's fine. This forum can be a savior for people who worry

 

yeah 1st gear is pretty low, by the time I'm at 3500 rpms I'm probably doing like 18mph or something like that, I can't say I've ever really paid attention to the exact speed but I have to go into 2nd pretty quickly to really get the truck going.

The one thing I have going on that bothers me from time to time is I will on occasion get a pretty big 'jolt' coming from right under me where the trans is if I do a normal/quick shift. Only way to avoid this from happening is to constantly slowly let off the clutch which isn't always possible. I think a couple years ago I got it to go away by tightening the trans mount bolt, I'll have to see if that is loose again. Or maybe it's the mount itself.

 

Shifter bushing replaced. It helped a lot when the truck is moving. Not when at a stop.
I’ll try changing the fluids. Thanks. I’ll keep you guys posted.

My dad has a 95 pickup. It shifts a lot smoother.

 

Sounds like there might be an issue with yours then, the hard thing about diagnosing this stuff online is that one person's idea of rough shifting might be another person's idea of normal. But if it's a lot rougher than your dad's truck of a similar year then there's no denying something might be up.

Since you replaced the bushing the next clear step would be to change out the fluid. I would get your hands on some Redline MT90 gear oil for the manual trans, it makes a big difference in shifting feel and there are a lot of good reviews about it on this site alone. Its the only stuff I use now