Frustrated with my 6 speed

They were. It was the bearing races. Toyota had 3 bearing changes that year. The first 2 were ball bearing races. The third fixed it with roller bearing races. That was the only trans issue I've ever had with Toyota's. I replaced them myself, even though Toyota said they'd do it for free.

 

Yea, little yota's surprise every time.

Now they get twice as mad when you run the stock or modified v8 class and beat them.

my 1981 that is my play truck is on the 3rd l52 trans. I had 3, rebuilt the shifter and broke the first two. Figure I may as well use them. Then they will get swapped out for a later trans. But this one has just kept going..

That cable is a drag..

 

That's the class I got stuck in. One guy had a blown v8. He's the guy that won it. I ran the whole thing in 3rd, low range, revving like hell, just floating along like I had a boat or something!. That guy beat me by 3ft! He cought fire when he stopped though, and burnt that truck down to the tires! He obviously got trailored out. I (just) drove on home!!!

 

Well, I knew it had to do with the bearings. And the virtual add-on 5th gear.

I was not aware they had a "fix" for it. That could explain the fragile as glass ones I have broken in the past and the on that I am running now, which seems to be working well.

On a side note, everything I own is a manual. So my wife knows how to drive one. At my house in Kansas, I asked her to drive the 81 around to the back, since I had been drinking and working.. After getting the seat fixed up (she is short..) she did.

That was the last time, she said it was scary..

Between the brakes, which are less than impressive with the swampers. The unbalanced swampers, SFA, old school shifter, old school steering ratio and the "loose as hell shifter that can't find the gears" she won't drive it.

The shifter is very good for the year, after rebuilding the thing.. But its not a modern shifter. Just a perfect example of how many people feel like the 6spd is "bad" etc, and I do not. Probably because I have driven much worse that I would not call bad.. So in reality I feel like the 6spd is pretty good.

 

Must have been an older class, now anything blown is unlimited. sometimes super mod. But of course the rules vary from place to place every time.

single cab short bed, 4cyl 4x4. Nice and light, with the tires it just does not sink as much. And the 22re, although no Honda motor can hold its own with a few RRRRRRR's right up until the big end bolts stretch and the rod punches the block.

 

I feel the same way with the 6spd. The trans itself, is a very good trans. The (problems) that so many have had with the throwout bearing is not, the trans. Look at gearcrunchers excellent posts and the ra60f schematic. The question then would be, where's the clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing? Its because that's not part of the trans, as a part#. They are separate parts?.
As far as the early 5spds, if the ball bearing races wore to far, they weakened the whole gearline. They, blew up!!! With the roller bearing races, they didn't get a chance to get weak. I will say, the vast majority of 81 5spds were ball bearing races.

 

It was in 1982. Hastings MI. They classed everything by tire size. That guy was in an open class but switched tires to run in the 33" class. Back then, in MI, those guys hated Toyota's. They would do just about anything to beat a Toyota. You can imagine how they felt, when they had to trailor out that truck and I just, "drove on outta there!!!

 

In that regard they still hate Toyota's! Its hard to beat the package, low weight and a solid frame to put the "power" down.

Years ago when I was a kid, both my parents and my gramps raced tough truck (back when it was a thing) and those little Yota's always had people angry! Back when they hit the big tires as the finish line my Dad had an 83 Toyota that was his daily driver/ Drove it in, raced it, drove it home and back to work. That old truck went forever.

Gramps broke his neck in 93, so moved on to mud trucks. Dad broke his back in 2001 and quit all together.

Granted, now to run many of them down its a built/forged/stroked and megasquirt run 22re making about twice the power of a stock 81 22r.. ARB front and Detroit rear. Depending on the mud at a track and the rules of the track its runs TSL Boggers, or LTB Swampers.. But it does very well! Almost always a win in 4&6 class and regular wins in 8 stock and 8 modified. And while it is perfectly street legal, it rides in on a trailer and goes home on a trailer. Mainly because tires are expensive, and the Tacoma tow vehicle is more comfortable.

And now they run separate classes loosely based off mod's allowed. And tire size restrictions which would bump up a class. Its still 33's in some places and 35's in others.. Then some also restrict boggers.

 

I grew up around the Yota's and offroad jamboree's of course where Domestic guys scorned. Love those old trucks, so now I collect them and tinker as my hobby.

In the Midwest, one of the trucks I remember who used to show at all those events was "soap suds" an old ford with twin whipple superchargers and a lift off body.

Always loved watching all of those domestic trucks, some of which I still love break themselves to pieces. The frames were never on the level of 1979-95 Toyota's for one thing.

Now look what we have, frame rot issues and trucks that are still great but engineered to fail.. Stupid front wheel bearings.

 

Now that I've been thinking about it when driving it definitely seems computer controlled. I find it rev matches on downshifts really easily. Way better than my old BMW 528i. I could never heel toe well in that damn thing cuz I couldn't get the toe down far enough. Not that I heel toe in the Tacoma, but yeah it blips easier than the BMW did.

 

Short shifter from URD and float gears

 

It was a purpose built unit they did not have any thing else like it they may have been playing catch up because others had 5 spds. There was some thing wrong with the case it to me is the only possible answer every single one eventually had problems. The boring may not have been parallel between the head gear and the counter gear I don't know but I probably would not have any issue redoing one today after all these years you get pretty good at it after number 27. I still have several of the little rear bearings in my tool box want some?

 

You could do that or just learn how to drive it. Mine works fine with the bone stock set up.

 

Haha, why would someone want to rebuild one anymore when you can swap a g52 or w56 in place for the same cost?

That being said.. I have known a few to be rebuilt in the last few trucks I know of running around that are not modified. Probably only due to the fact that they have it, and it is easy.

 

After a year with my 09 six speed, I'm pretty smooth most of the time. I installed the urd short shifter and really like it, not that it helped the smoothness much. I think the way it's geared is part of the problem as well. Hard acceleration is a disaster, plus the fact that the rpms won't drop fast enough between shifts. In spite of all this, I'm a manual kind of guy. Hang in there!
Frank

 

What's to say about acceleration? 60 not fast enough in second with 4 more gears to go?