RC60F Transmission swap including 4th Gen Taco

I hated the throttle in my 3G, but you know what...I have zero complaints about throttle response in my 2G, outside of some rev hang maybe. I don't think DBW is inherently bad, but its implementation will make or break it. I also had a late 2000's car that I spent a lot of track days in, and it was pretty lazy amd rev hang-y until I tuned it and phyically tweaked the contacts in the gas pedal to get rid of an off idle dead spot - and it also left me with little to nothing to complain about.

Of course, my high water mark for throttle response that I've driven is an air cooled 911 with a lightweight flywheel; it was cable obviously, but that's just something else entirely. Ugh. I really miss that one..

 

My air cooled 911 was actually a 95 Pathfinder but... Throttle cable manual windows clutch.. It was nice

 

That’s the thing…DBW itself is not bad. It’s what they do with it that really sucks. The 3G Tacoma is terrible in that regard.

 

The DBW tuning in my IS (not factory) is too responsive, it completely lacks any hang and I can actively feel the minor driveline lash when I get off throttle. That, along with tuning DBW for various cars, and I can tell you, DBW isn’t inherently slower/worse than cable.

What you have a problem with is how it’s programmed.

Jeff

 

I wish there was a better way to adjust the DBW tuning than the aftermarket canned tunes on the market…I’ve learned to live with it as “it is what it is” due to all the aftermarket tunes having their own undesirable quirks. Stock works meh enough for me.

 

Finally got my thread with all my thoughts and info into one location, if anyone is interested:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...nsmission-for-the-rc60f.849671/#post-30359650

That took a while...

 

Those of you who bought your trucks new, was reverse a bit of a bastard to get into sometimes? I bought mine at 4K miles, so if there was any break-in of the transmission, I didn’t really notice and it was probably mostly done with by the time I got the truck.

This one’s for sure getting better (1.5k miles), but it’s been quite resistant to go in reverse a number of times. It’s not the spring loaded part, that part is fine. It’s the forward motion where it wants to block me out randomly. Pushing harder gets it done. No big deal, it’s definitely getting better and so I’m not worried, I think it’s just break-in. Just curious if others were like this too, because I don’t have a real frame of reference since I bought my truck lightly used. It’s not a master or slave cylinder issue, as all other gears work fine in the same scenario.

I have gotten blocked out of 1st a number of random times as well, but that happened a lot with my old transmission too. This one did it a lot the first week or so, and has decreased significantly in frequency since, so I imagine that issue will be down to about as frequent as it was with my stock trans, which is livable.

Other than those two minor complaints, this thing has been awesome and I highly recommend for anyone wanting the gearing it offers. Especially if you wait for Black Friday pricing.

 

I have more issues getting it into 2nd than reverse most days. My truck really hates going into 2nd when the gearbox is cold.

 

Reverse can sometimes be stubborn but the 1st gear block is a far more frequent occurrence. But with the RC60F you can probably launch in 2nd more comfortably when that happens.

 

Both of mine have been pretty blocky shifters gong from 1-2 when cold. I’m glad I can more easily start in 2nd now, helps to avoid that.

 

Yeah, on my stock transmission I got blocked out of 1st at least once a week, sometimes multiple times a day. Something to do with the synchro unluckily not lining up enough I’d guess, and since we have tailset reductions, the vehicle would have to roll to fix the misalignment, so we have to either let the clutch back out or force it. This one blocked me out of 1st like 4 stops in a row on a trip not long
after install, very annoying lol. But it hasn’t been like that since.

Reverse is just being a bit of a bear sometimes, though it’s a lot better now than it was, so it’s probably going to keep improving until it’s like my old trans, I imagine. I tend to think the synchros need some time to sand themselves down smooth or something and then it’ll all be good. I had 0 complaints going into R on the stock trans, I don’t recall if ever giving me any trouble.

 

I’ve just been double clutching that shift in the morning. Maybe entirely replacing the transmission would be easier

 

Lol. Guy math….

I have definitely done plenty of double clutching on the stocker since I didn’t like starts in 2nd with it. Although usually I’m just lazy and force it, with an uncomfortable shift feel until it’s warm.

 

It doesn’t necessarily need to roll, you just have to get the gears to spin slightly. Hold the clutch down and put it the truck into second then back into first. It should let you in.

You can do the same trick with reverse.

 

Yeah, what I meant was that without letting out the clutch, that's what would have to happen, because the trans internals are fixed to the wheels, not the input shaft. No transmission with the conventional design of the input fixed to the counter shaft have ever experienced being blocked like this one, in my experience anyways.

But yes, I just pop the clutch back out to fix it when it happens.

I can do the same for reverse but it's less helpful. That one's just a bit more crotchety in general, so far.

 

Right yeah. That makes sense.

 

I second the motion. Reverse is fine. First gear block happens at least once a week for me

 

Yup, normal. Mine was the same.

 

I only had issues with the reverse gate being a little stiff to get in to when brand-brand new. Never had any issue with any gear at any temperature outside of that (other than the first gear at a stop thing with the aforementioned fix of popping in 2nd or clutch out to fix).

Well, twice or so there was a user-induced issue of trying to shift to 1st in a hurry and grabbing reverse instead.

 

I will never understand how I’ve owned BMWs for 20 years and never done that, but in the 18 months I’ve owned my Tacoma I’ve done it half a dozen times.