Manual transmission Fan Club and BS thread (All Generations Welcome)

Toyota provides a couple of nice indicators that will help you achieve greater mileage. By watching them you will learn when to shift gears to help those numbers. As for your comment 'It revs a lot' . With a Manual this is totally controlled by you, at which RPM you shift is your choice (not a computer) This engine will certainly wind up freely and, as you will discover, the higher it winds the more power you have at your disposal. My experience was that I got about 1-2 mpg better mileage as it broke in. Remember mileage is also determined by a number of factors - Going up hill and how fast you want to do so. How fast you want to get up to speed, your cruising speed, terrain, you elevation, the type of tires you are running, the amount of weight you are carrying etc. Enjoy driving and controlling your machine!

 

If you notice the clutch in this truck has a bit of vagueness in its catch point. Some manuals have a very specific catch and you can really control what you do at that point, while with this clutch it's more of a grey area than a single point. The theory is that the accumulator is responsible and removing it makes the catch point more discrete.

 

Picked up yesterday evening. Only 25 new MT Taco's within 50 miles of my location and only 3 with a sunroof.

 

Drove up from Paso Robles to San Jose last week in good weather. Light/medium traffic, no real snarls except Gilroy. Averaged 17.8 MPG holding steady at 70-75 MPH. Used cruise whenever possible. This truck really works hard to maintain that speed even with the sixth gear.

 

The Vtec was kicking in

 

Yes... there's a post on it somewhere.

Just need a rubber o-ring.

There's this "thing" in the hydraulic line between the pedal and the slave cylinder that slows down the movement of the clutch arm, acting like a shock absorber. Making it impossible to control the actual friction point of the clutch, as it will always travel between it. For someone used to driving manuals, and older cars, its definitely noticeable - and annoying - that you can't control it. It's also not as good in off road situations where you need to work the clutch right at that spot.

In my theory also, because it makes the clutch engagement always slower, it wears clutches out faster. That's just my opinion and theory, I don't have facts to back it up, but I bet experienced clutch drivers can get more life out of a clutch without one.

 

Anyone order a shifter from Flossy lately? They seem to be taking a fair bit of time with mine (although I did ask for custom engraving).

Placed order on 01 Nov, haven't heard a thing since the confirmation the same day. Asked for an update late last week.. meh

 

send a friendly email to Chad directly. make a connection. he's a friendly guy but you won't know unless you connect first. that will get you sorted more quickly.

 

i don't have any trouble modulating my clutch, but i do agree the design isn't good, the construction is worse, and it's a bastard to learn and get right. but I'm basically 100% right on it now, finally.

in other news my truck is going to the dealer next Monday in exchange for a loaner while they get the FST to look at my clutch pedal assembly. cus it sucks.

 

Took her out on the highway for the first time today, Highway driving in this truck is good. It doesn't seem to "float" around as much as my father's old Ford Explorer. Also, cruise control works and works well (once I figured out how to engage it). Speed limits out east are pretty slow, so keeping up with traffic was easy. All and all, I think I pretty much have this figured out. It took me one week to go from clueless to semi-competent at driving a manual. Don't know if that's fast or slow, but I enjoyed the experience.

 

Kudos for doing it yourself. I was extremely lucky, as my father had the time and patience to teach me the M/T. Learned on a '79 Dodge D-100 with the leaning tower o' power lol.

 

Looks like you and I picked up the same truck, the same night, just at opposite ends of the country.

 

At 15 yrs old, I learned to drive in a 1969 Datsun 1300cc pickup. Everything manual of course.

Only 3 of the past 17 vehicles I owned were/are auto and or CVT. The rest were by choice, manual.

You can vastly preserve your clutch by not holding the clutch down while sittinh at lights or stop signs. Just pop into nuetral, and hold the brake. Even on hill stops.

My 1997 Taco has 218k on it and the original clutch is still solid. 20 years of stop and go, hills, sand wheeling and towing. No clutch issues.

 

I love my 6 speed but I wish I had a longbed.

 

In Tacoma language, a 6' bed is a long bed. In big boy trucks its still considered a short bed. So, us guys with short bed Tacomas have shorter short beds.

 

According to the reviews, you may never see that shift knob. I was planning to order one like this, but now I'm reconsidering:

 

Still wondering if anyone knows if the 3rd gen TRD Pro shifter knobs are exactly the same between the MT and AT besides the shift pattern. I'd like to not have the pattern but I don't know if anything else is different on them.

 

dunno if they are the same...Part numbers are different...but the manny tranny knob on Amazon does not show a shift pattern

$99 TOYOTA PTR57-35171 TRD Pro Manual Shift Knob, 1 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyota-PTR57-35171-2016-2017-Transmission/dp/B01M4P6ZML

and the Auto for good measure

$98 PTR57-35170

https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-PTR57...oma+TRD+Pro+Shift+Knob+automatic+transmission

 

Now that's interesting. I see the same thing on Amazon, but when I do a google search for pictures of the knob I see images like this: http://seasparrows.co/wp-content/up...-toyota-tacoma-toyota-tacoma-shifter-knob.jpg

 

yup odd...

@Braves95 has pattern



so does @OffsetPlayer2



cant find @shakerhood picture...to see if he does