Transmission gear hunting

I disagree this happens with any vehicle. Comparing my Pilot to my Tacoma, it’s not even close how much better the Pilot delivers power. Both have 3.5l engines and 6 speed autos. The Tacoma just doesn’t know what it’s doing in comparison.

 

I would recommend getting a yotawerx tune hands down the best file for gear hunting issues. I have driven and rode in 12 3rd gens that have had the tune and all trucks ranging from 12k to 120k miles on them. I spent over 8 months doing research on tuning being I used to tune audi and VW and I have to say being in my truck having it done and with the amount of gear I keep constantly in the truck and on the truck it is a night and day difference. I hope this helps out and if you need help finding a tuner I can help you out.

 

just trade it in for honda ridgleline , also have your heard your engine ..tick tick tick tick tick

 

That picture of your truck has been lifted with larger tires, and who knows what else has been changed. It's no wonder this transmission is hunting, plus your grill sensor must not be working like it should either due to the lift.

 

There's obviously an insinuation here, but MOST trucks don't have the type of drivability issues 3rd gen powertrain has, and it's not unreasonable to be annoyed by it.

 

its not an issue its a characteristic, i just find it funny every car that i owned in the last 6years people complain about something on the forums

 

Glad yous guys said that so I didn't have to...

 

There is no such thing as gear hunting. That has to be the worst description of the issue with transmission shift points.

 

Regardless of how you want to label it, doesn't change that it's still undesirable, which is why many people spend notable sums of money trying to mitigate it.

 

Explains why you love playing with your...shift rod!

 

This is the exact same problem I have had with my '21. When you get close to 45 mph, keep an eye on your RPMs and see if the truck up shifts just before the jerking starts. My jerking was always worse when the truck shifted to 5th and the RPMs dropped below 1800ish. If that's the case with you, try driving around in S4 and see if keeping the truck out of 5th gear helps.

I now have OTT (lite/mild) on the truck. The lite setting doesn't do much to fix the problem but mild does a better job of keeping the transmission from upshifting until closer to 50 mph where the vibrations aren't a problem.

 

Almost returned our Taco a couple of days after buying it due to the constant and really annoying gear hunting. After reading umpteen positive posts, watching umpteen more positive videos and doing some more research after that, I took a chance on an OTT performance tune and never looked back. Best money I've spent on it to date.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/overland-torque-tune-ott-by-overland-tailor.759590/

My personal experience:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-overland-tailor.759590/page-41#post-28375280

 

The truck hunting for the right gear didn't really start to annoy me until I slapped 33s on my truck. Bone stock - it was fine to drive and I was honestly baffled by the "gear-hunting" complaints.

When I had 33s on, it bothered me a lot especially when I was going uphill or fully loaded. It was constantly up and down shifting. To alleviate, I would just drive it manually (really limit the highest gear it can go into) or just push the good ol' ECT button.

Now that I am on 35s, I regeared to 5.29s - the truck doesn't search for the right gear at all, up hill or fully loaded. It is just a joy to drive now and barely shifts. It is 90% of the time in the right gear.

 

Same just got the OTT tune the end of April totally different feeling.

 

Last question. Shift sense pro. Any thoughts?

 

I don’t have any experience with this product. It’s well reviewed, but the issue I see here is like the throttle enhancers, it’s only a partial fix. It addresses some shifting concerns, but only S mode while doing nothing for throttle response or the factory high RPM power band. A tune addresses all of these in one shot. To me that seems a more worthwhile investment.

 

I'm looking at ott. Just messaged them. I called toyota dealership and they said they could do nothing. I love the truck. But can't stand the shifting. I made turn this morning and it was damn near stalling in too high of gear

 

The KDMax tune will absolutely address the gear hunting. It was night and day difference with my 2019 TRD Sport. Also a dramatic improvement to towing performance too. Bear in mind, KDMax, along with founders Kreg (@PapaRee) and Dave (@TWTaco), have been in the Tacoma tuning game since it’s inception, working in conjunction with the, VFTuner developers all along. They’ve built a solid, reliable tune for these trucks without compromising the well-earned reliability reputation of these trucks. I am completely confident you will be pleased with the outcome if you give a go! I wouldn’t be selling it if I didn’t absolutely believe that. You would be far from the first Tacoma owner that decides not to get rid of the truck because of the improvements provided by this tune!