Manual transmission(R150F) help

I'm a regular on the Toyota 4Runner forum but I wasn't able to get any answers over there, since the manual transmissions are probably more common on Toyota pickups I figured I'd ask around here. I recently manual swapped my '00 4Runner SR5 4WD (A340F -> R150F) and am experiencing some issues that I haven't seen before:

To start, I have a pretty loud whine coming from my transmission in neutral. I have an exhaust on my car and the whine is sometimes louder than the exhaust (mostly on a cold start until the car warms up) The whine is in all gears except 4th and goes away completely when the clutch is pressed in. I noticed that if I take the shifter and pull it backwards into 4th gear without pressing the clutch in, the whine starts to go away. I've already replaced all of the bearings in the transmission hoping that it would solve the problem, unfortunately not. There's also a strong vibration in the clutch petal when shifting above 3500rpm, the vibration is there while pressing the gas petal too.

Anything helps, been struggling with this for months now... Thank you guys

 

@gearcruncher might have a clue

 

New clutch, flywheel, throw out bearing, pilot bearing, etc when you installed it? What clutch did you go with? Could be a runout issue with the flywheel.

How many miles were on the transmission? You did the bearings and seals, or had a transmission rebuilder do them?

What about things like carrier bearing and driveshaft u joints? Would potentially explain the vibrations but not the whine. How have you identified where the sound is coming from?

 

I think he was actually the one who I was talking to on the 4Runner forum. He is super helpful

 

Yes, new clutch, new flywheel, throw out bearing etc. when I installed it. I even replaced the fork/pivot that the slave cylinder pushes on. I have tried 2 new flywheels, one of them was a LUK flywheel from yotashop and the other was from marlin crawler. Same results. I originally bought an Aisin clutch and pressure plate and it was making the vibration/whine so I tried an Exedy clutch and pressure plate but got the same results as the OEM. 142,000 miles on the transmission when I swapped it and ive probably put another 4,000 on it in my car. Yes, I put new bearings and seals from cobra transmission.

I don't think its a drive shaft issue since the noise is present at a standstill. The vibration is ONLY in the clutch petal itself. The sound is coming from the transmission. I drove around without the shifter boot on and could hear it very clearly. Its RPM based so as I rev up the engine it gets louder and louder.

I have some pictures of the inside of the transmission that I can upload and if it'll help I can record a video of the sound but I don't think I can show the vibration.

 

So multiple variations of clutch/flywheel, pretty much rules out the front end.

Vibration and whine are present when the vehicle is stopped, but the transmission is in neutral and the clutch is out? I assume it doesn’t do anything when the clutch is all the way in. Sounds like it’s not the driveshaft.

Is it 4wd? Not a whole lot in the transfer case to go bad but may be worth looking at (input shaft bearing).

Otherwise it sounds like transmission internals, bad bearing journal or main shaft/countershaft out of spec, something like that.

 

Correct. In neutral, if I rev the engine at all I feel a vibration in the clutch petal that gets significantly worse when above 3500rpm. When the clutch is all the way in I still feel the vibration. Yes its 4WD. I don't think its the transfer case, I've tested it with the Tcase in neutral and shifted thru all the gears and it still whines in every gear but 4th. However with the Tcase in neutral, if I pull the shifter back like I'm going to shift into 4th, the sound goes away completely. Here's a video of the sound. Once the engine starts to idle down I press the clutch petal in and out and you can hear the sound difference. https://youtu.be/671feAC23ks

 

If I am understanding correctly... Sounds like a bearing or excessive bearing play in the countershaft is not right. The powerflow from engine to outputshaft in 4th gear is 1:1 in all other gears it flows through the countershaft. Just because bearings are new is not a guarantee of quality... toyota factory bearings. For me, no chineese bearings, ever. US, Japan, German are my choices for bearings.

 

How would I go about narrowing it down? I don't think its a bearing because the original bearings that I pulled out all looked pretty good.

 

A stethoscope or a long 3/8 extension to you ear while it is making the noise. Having someone pull on the shifter to load the bearing and then unload it will help a great deal. It is the axial load (in and out) that is causing the problem, not the radial (up and down) load.

 

Odd that you’d get the noise and vibration with the clutch pushed in, nothing in the transmission should be spinning. Otherwise I agree with above, countershaft and/or bearings. Spun bearing journal possibly.

Unless you consider yourself a highly capable mechanic and can check for shaft play/runout, and mic the bearing journals, I’d take it to a reputable shop for full teardown.

 

I have a automotive stethoscope, I have my buddy try it later on and get back to you.

 

I only get the vibration with the clutch in. The noise is gone. Sorry for the confusion. I wouldn't consider myself a mechanic but ive torn it apart before and am able to do it again. All I need are some calipers right? Where can I find the specs?

 

@caribe makaira might know of something

 

Nope, I don't do 1st Gen stuff...

 

So clutch in vibration, clutch out noise. Are you sure the clutch is centered? some of the plastic centering tools they give you are garbage. You have to be really careful and make sure it's perfectly centered. If you pull the transmission out I'd rev it with the clutch on and then off and see if your vibration goes away. The bearing noise sounds like it could be coming from a synchro based on the fact if you start to engage 4th with clutch in it might be grabbing the synchro.

 

Posted this before and posting here as well:

Many, many threads on the 5 speed whines (days can be spent trying to figure it out). Pretty common. Even on rebuilt Marlin crawler trannys with new clutches.

Two years ago my W59 started whining with only 80K original miles on it. Clutch in = silence, clutch out = whine except in 4th it was silent as its direct drive. I had the tranny rebuilt by a very reputable shop recommended by many TW users for $1150 with a new NSK bearing kit. Had another very reputable shop do the R&R and put in a new fork, ball, clutch, bearings, resurfaced flywheel and put in a new rear main seal while everything was open (all OEM or Asin). $3K for everything and I should get another 100K easy. And guess what.... it still whines but runs fine.

My advice would be to drive it. If you open it all up and replace everything new... be prepared to have it still whine. But try and figure out vibration.

 

Thinking about your issue some more... if this is the 3.4 motor the clutch disk is installed differernt than most manual transmissions. On all other manuals I have worked on the clutch dampner spring housing on the clutch disk is installed away from the flywheel, on Toyota factory disks it is installed towards the flywheel... it could be that simple.

Scroll down to where he is taking the disk out to see what I am talking about.

https://adventuretaco.com/guide/clu...t-gen-tacoma-5vzfe-also-4runner-t-100-tundra/

 

I’ve wanted to try this before, but how would i start the engine without the transmission on?

 

This is actually the write up that i used to install the clutch. Looks like im gonna be taking the trans out again so ill look just to be a 110% sure