Resistance shifting into 3rd & 4th gear

Hello all. Recently I replaced the clutch master and clutch slave cylinders on my wife's 2001 Tacoma 4x4 2.7l (5 speed). Everything was fine for the past week but then last week she mentioned that she thought it didn't feel right going into third and fourth gear, but that she wasn't sure if she was just getting used to a fixed clutch pedal (I had her double clutch it until the part came in from Toyota and I had time to change it).

Anyway, today she had me drive and I noticed that when shifting into third gear and somewhat into fourth gear there is a lot of resistance AND it doesn't feel like the shift lever moves all the way into position. The best way I can describe it feels exactly like there is an inflated balloon between the shift lever and the dash (3rd) or between the shift lever and seat (4th).

It goes into the gear, does not pop out, and does not make any noise. All other gears shift fine without resistance and the lever travels all the way into position. I tested it in 2wd, 4 wd high, and 4 wd low with same results. No difference between cold and after we've been driving it for a while.

My first thought is to change the gearbox oil as I don't know when, if ever, that has been done. We have about 101k miles on the truck. Thoughts, suggestions?

 

Check the bushing that the ball of the shifter rides in. Its a nylon/plastic bushing. I had the same issue shifting gears with my old 93 toyota pu and i found the bushing was damaged and not allowing the shifter to engage the gears easily. After i replaced the bushing it shifted like a new truck. Good luck!

 

I had the same problem and last week I replaced the shifter seat with one from Marlin Crawler, and after that it shifted into all the gears with no slop at all. The total fix cost about $20 and thirty minutes of my time. My 02 Tacoma has only 76k miles but the original shifter seat just crumbled and I had to carefully pick out the pieces of it so they wouldn't fall into the transmission.

 

Thanks all, it is on the road to recovery with a temporary fix until the part comes in. I didn't have time to wait for delivery through Marlin Crawler so I opted to get the parts from the local dealer. Unfortunately I could not find an exploded view of that part on the W59 transmission with part #s so I had to rely on their work over the phone. They had the bottom bushing socket (

$8 33548-31010 Toyota Shift Lever Bushing - 33548-31010

33548-31010) but he said he didn't see the other part on their diagram and maybe it came with both in the bag. Took it apart today and confirmed That was wrong and i still need another part. This time I go to the dealer with shifter parts in hand, they pull up the diagram order the part (

$16 33505-35020 Seat Shift Sub-Assembly

33505-35020) and print me a copy of the exploded view for my files. Part won't be here till Friday so in the meantime I just cleaned out all the rotted seat and put it back together. Surprisingly it shifts fine without the seat. Feels like an old muscle car or a farm tractor but it works.