Anyone’s transmission still wonky? 20k miles in

I disagree, slightly. The A750F was best paired with the V8 in the 4th gen. 5th gen is still smooth with it, but pedal to the floor, the V8+A750F is way smoother.

My wife’s RAV4 with UA80F is very similar. I’ve learned to anticipate a clunk when coming to a complete stop. It jolts you forward. If I remember reading right, for the UA80 at least, 1st and 2nd are ridiculously close so much so that 2nd is almost another 1st. I wonder if that’s the same with the AL80.

 

It's weird, between Nissan and Toyota, it seems the old 5AT was the best. I had a 5AT Titan for 14 years, that transmission never once behaved improperly.

Toyota stuck with the 5AT on the 4R for some super secret reason.

Industry wide, anything with 6 speeds or more seems to be problematic.

I currently have a 9AT Titan, I swear to God some day I'm going to figure out how to swap the 5AT into it.

At work, our Ford trucks eat 10AT transmissions like they're snacks. We don't get more than 20k out of them. A peculiar transmission, they don't shift sequentially through each gear, they skip shift. It's too busy to go through 10 (or 9) gears, so most manufacturers program their mega speed transmissions to only shift 4-5 times before getting top gear.

The complaints about the Tacoma 8AT are similar to how I feel about the 9AT in my Titan. Well, at least they don't break like the Fords and GMs, right?

 

If I had to guess, it’s cause it almost got killed two or three times during its 5th gen run. It was supposed to be killed shortly after the refresh but instead sales took off. I then believe it was going to get killed around the 2018 MY but sales stayed strong. So strong sales + that generation being so old = money printing machine. Toyota definitely got its moneys worth out of R&D for the 5th gen.

The taco got updated to a 6 speed as a stop gap because it finally had competition again. I’d imagine Toyota would’ve drug the 5 speed out longer had it remained the only midsize truck aside from the Frontier.

 

Where was the 6spd auto produced? If it's made in Japan which I doubt. Toyota would have thrown it in the 4R. My guess is Toyota had the 6spd built in NA for the NA Tacoma. I agree with everything else you said, but shipping parts from Mexico to Japan to be sent back doesn't make sense, and there never was a reason to update the 4R drivetrain as it was easily sold with minimal complaint from customers.

 

I wonder why Toyota went to the expense of developing an 8AT for the Tacoma/LC250. They put the Tundra 10AT in the GX which is basically an LC250 which basically a Tacoma. I'm sure it fits. Ford has a 10AT with their 2.3 Rangers and Broncos. The 8AT, with two less gears, is probably a little less expensive per unit compared to the 10AT but the savings in development costs and the commonality among platforms would have offset a lot of that.

 

I don't dislike the Tundra but the roll out of that truck and it's on going problems combined with the abundance of other half ton options out there I don't think I'd ever want one. If I was a Texan I'd be singing a different tune because it's locally made, and that would make a difference. But why wouldn't Toyota use that transmission on all GAF trucks?

 

Common denominator is the 10AT is in the Turbo V6 and 8AT is the Turbo 4.
Probably came down to efficiency and power output at the different drive ratios - may not have been necessary to do the 10AT in all cases.

 

The 5AT in the 2nd gen frontier is a great transmission (engine also great), I've owned 2 of them

 

im in the exact same boat, took it to the dealer once and they said its normal. I still hate getting in this truck sometimes. ive been considering selling it and getting something else. idk, i feel exactly how you do, i feel like 95% of this truck is awesome, i love the tech. but the trans hurts me every morning

 

And the Tacoma's 8AT is basically a UA80 reconfigured from FWD to RWD.

 

Nothing with a 10spd probably needs, it does seem like overkill in a midsize.

 

all Tacomas transmissions are clunky cycling thru the low gears and thru low rpms. If you aren't going from a stop to 80mph or 80mph to a stop, its going to clunky a lot. My 23 transmission feels like its slamming into a boulder around 3rd gear quite often. It's a similar feeling to how it feels when you lock it in 4 lo. I've had 4 Tacomas and the auto trans have all been that way in one way or another...

My wife's Highlander on the other hand is smooth as silk all the time no matter how you drive it.

 

Does that include your 4g?

 

As a third gen owner now hearing complaints about the transmission on the 4th gen…

 

Interesting topic, I think all cars vary a bit. Here's my input

My 4th Gen Tacoma is not clunky shifting thru any of the gears when it's Hot or cold. Drive in eco most of the time.
My 2016 5th Gen 4runner transmission was not smooth, however my 2008 Tacoma shifted very smooth.

Skyler

 

I'd take it to the dealer. I am at 20K, been through one of our coldest winters and the trans has been buttery smooth. My wife's 24 Camry is rougher than the 24 Tacoma.

 

Yup mines the same way

 

Mine was smooth up until 8k. It started doing what everyone here is describing at very random times. I took it in and went on a ride a long with the mechanic but we couldn't replicate it. He checked for codes, and checked the trans fluid. Nothing came up. He told me to bring it back if it gets worse. Bummer.

 

It’s sad Toyota hasn’t addressed this yet