Frustrated with my 6 speed

Now that I think about it, your right. I have an older Tremec in my Chevelle and it's awesome! I day dream of an L33/T56/Atlas combo in my taco, but that's a whole new thread after winning the lotto.
My advise to the OP, install a short throw shifter and keep driving it. You'll find a rhythm that works for you and no matter how frustrating it gets, it's still more rewarding to drive than an auto.

 

Hey Boat Racer, I was just going through some of my old repair notes. This one is a shocker. It was originally a Borg warner. One of the return causes,,, popping out of gear! Could you imagine if that was happening to a RA60F! Man, this forum would be blowing up!

 

I daily drive an '87 sr5 4 runner and the shifter started popping out of gear around 240K miles. Luckily it was just the bushing, she still drives great today. That's just a W56 though, I'd be pissed if my Tremec did that after spending $3K on it.

 

As you just said, that's the biggest problem with the tretec, $3000! It is tough though. It is (a little overkill on our Tacoma's) as its HP rating way exceeds our HP ratings. I don't think manufacturers would spring for it. I, like you, sure would like it if they did.

 

The 6 spd. is rated around 400 FP of torque so it's not as light weight as people make it out to be. A lot of people jumped from a rice rocket into a truck with rear wheel drive they are two different vehicles worlds apart and I can see how they would have trouble with the 6 spd.

 

I kind of like the 6 speed. I grew up driving a 5 spd 4runner and still drive my brothers old toyota manual, the new ones aren't any different in feel to me.

 

Just curious why does everyone hate the rev hang?

 

I struggled the first couple of hundred miles but ended up following the advice found on this forum. Basically it works out to something along the lines of:

-Drive gingerly until the transmission warms up (10-15 min)
-Once warm, shift it like a dumb truck with no clutch
-Proper rpms seem to be key here, rev--let off--*slight pause*--then *softly* toss the stick

The difference, in my experience, has been that slight pause and also more of a "pushing in the right direction" and letting the stick find where it wants to go. I seem to make more problems when I am firm/deliberate with the stick.

 

Mine shifts smooth. Never had any issues with rough shifting. I normally shift at 2000 rpm, but even when I accelerate hard I can still shift smooth up high in the RPM

 

The higher the RPM the better they shift...

 

exactly. That's why I don't understand why people hate the rev hang?

 

Because RPMs are supposed to drop when you're upshifting in order to meet the RPMs of the next gear. The rev hang keeps it too high and you either have to wait for it to come down before engaging the clutch, or you dump the clutch and put added shock on the drivetrain. BTW, the 5 speeds/2TR's have the same rev hang.

 

I know. But I think it slows the drop so you have time to shift it. It's not a race car. Its got a big map.

 

The rev delay and hang sucks, my personal biggest dislike of the truck. Next is the trans and poor TOB design. No, it's not a race truck or sports car, but should it shift like a 1950's dump truck when its a modern design and the damn truck costs $30K? No way, get your shit together Toyota! I love my truck and will continue to improve it to my needs, but there are no excuses for this trans in my opinion. It's also very odd that the shifting issue is so inconstant, even in this thread there are just as many guys that have no issues as those of us that do. Every time I drive mine I fight the trans, just getting it in gear can be a challenge. As much as I bitch though, I'll keep it over an auto everyday.

 

You mean you can actually shift without using the clutch?!? I'm new to Tacoma (2104) so there's a lot I don't know . Actually new to manual transmission as well. I logged on to ask if downshifting is really worth saving on break wear or is it too hard on the transmission. Thank You.

 

I find that purpose built transmissions (trannies where every gear has a speed range and advantage... think Porsche or most trucks) are generally like this. They have very little overlap and drive kinda rough. My friends Hyundai Elantra can be shifted 1-3-5 very smoothly with no effort, 2-4 are just there to help it up a huge hill or with a load. With my Taco every gear is necessary to move forward and there is little overlap in between gears.

My thought is because the Tacoma gear box doesn't have that overlap allowing a super smooth transition between ratios you sorta just have to get a feel for letting out the clutch very linearly and smoothly. The Elantra you can rev the shit outta and push the clutch and dump it in the next gear and it'll still be smooth.

 

Floating gears is not for everyone, it is what semi-truck drivers do. You are basically self synchronizing the tranny making the clutch unnecessary. If you do it correctly there will be less wear on the clutch (you are using it less) and there won't be any extra wear on the gears. If you do it wrong you'll eat your synchros and gears and have a costly repair.

If you want to learn more about it, look up how to float gears on YouTube (not to be confused with bang shifting). If you just want to learn more manual tranny techniques have a look at heel & toe shifting and double clutching. Double clutching isn't necessary but it can make for a smoother downshift and in the event you ever break a synchronizer you can use it to shift still. If you learn to heel & toe shift you can downshift without extra wear on the clutch. If you don't learn it, you just have to let out the clutch quickly to stop the extra wear. Consider this, a break job is generally cheaper than changing a clutch. Anytime the clutch is not fully disengaged or fully engaged you are putting wear on it. Generally the only time mine isn't fully one way or the other is in the 1 second or so it takes me to get going. Having a manual is fun, and there are tips and tricks to driving them that can be fun and good to know in an emergency as well.

 

It's definitely a different beast of a tranny. I've only owned 1 auto in my life and 8 straight shifts and it still took me a year to get shifting this thing right. Now I have no problems and wouldn't have anything else, well besides maybe the old r150 tranny my 01 and 94 trucks had in them. Just give it time and stop thinking too much about shifting.

 

I agree about this. When I got the taco it was kinda like learning to drive manual again. It took a while to get my shifts to second smooth

 

^^^ Truth

I'll be honest, I sold my 2013 6MT AC for a 2013 auto DCSB. Half of the frustration was because it was an AC but a lot of it was because of the transmission. I have a 2004 WRX STI (6-speed also) and the truck felt extremely frustrating compared to the car. It was just no fun, and while I understand it's not supposed to feel like a sports car it shouldn't have been as bad as it was. I had a very hard time shifting smoothly and even if I did everything right it wouldn't disengage out of 1st gear well. It's like the whole driveline was bound up so while moving at 5mph if I pushed in quickly on the clutch I'd get a bunch of thrash in the driveline as the clutch disengaged. Shifting into 2nd felt clunky and I couldn't quickly shift between 1st and 2nd without it being rough. The flywheel is so heavy that you can't easily rev-match by blipping the throttle when downshifting either.

Seriously, I could go on, but between all the frustration of the 6MT and the fact that my friends couldn't drive it (or my GF couldn't DD home after a night at the bar) I decided a DCSB with an auto was the way to go. I haven't regretted the decision at all to go with an auto.

I know there's a "save the manuals" crowd, particularly in enthusiast forums like this.... but this manual shouldn't even be offered. GM is making a smart move only offering the Colorado and Canyon with an auto and part of me wishes Toyota would do the same with the 2.2 generation when it launches in 2016.