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

do you think no other Tacomas could survive this? think about what the worldwide population of Tacoma trucks has to deal with. I'm not taking about people on TW who think about their trucks when they first wake up, you know.

 

Well it wasn't the first time I've experienced what happened.

 

you should spend some time in a proper work truck for a day with someone who treats it like a work truck.
that'll set you at ease about your Tacoma.

btw, i baby the shit out of my truck. i do things like run full condensation cycles for long engine life. I'm neurotic, what can i say? but i don't lose sleep over my truck taking some hits. it's designed and built for way more than you're describing.

 

Been in plenty of those actually. But i agree I overthink a lot. Thanks!

 

just don't forget the warranty has your back, at least long enough to find manufacturing faults. i treat my stuff right with proper warmup, service, quality fluids, all that, but if you don't run her hard at times you'll not know what you've got and how well it works under load or stress. find out during your warranty period... just my 0.02, don't be afraid to run the machine
just do it wisely.

 

i am still struggling with shifting smoothly in this truck. I love everything about it but sometimes my shifts are good and a lot are not. Quite frequently get the clunk when switching gears. I have an 89 Toyota pickup that I shift smoothly all the time. I have close to 1000 miles on it so feel like I should be used to the clutch by now. I have been having good luck in the higher rpm range with shifting and then it's like I'm doing the same thing but get the clunks all the time. Is this due to the bit of slop I get if I'm under the truck in neutral and can move the shaft back and forth in the rear diff has about 1/4 inch of clearance either way. I don't want it to but it's starting to get on my nerves a little. I can't afford a OVtune after buying this truck. Thanks for any advice and anything that will soothe my concerns.

 

I've just come to terms with the fact these trucks drive like dump trucks (at least both my second gens do). If I don't pay attention to it and just drive, it's usually smoother.

 

Yah. I feel like when I really start to try and make it smooth I have more issues. I just feel like if I'm constantly having clunky shifts how detrimental that would be in the long run. This is my first brand new vehicle. I have always bought used before and want to make this one last.

 

I just give it some gas during shifting now. Really helps when you're not revving the engine super high and just putting around town. I know that's probably gonna cause extra wear on the clutch but without it I get clunks and having to wait for the RPMs to drop to the correct range is a pain in the ass.

 

Same experience her with applying more gas through clutch transition but curious about how detrimental this would be to the clutch.

 

my guess, perhaps 80,000 miles instead of 100,000.

 

I find if you clutch and release throttle together at the same time, the revs drop quicker. I've also noticed that if the AC is running, it helps drop the rpms quicker.

 

I have owned nothing but Manuals over the past 35 years and this truck is near the top for ease of use, the shifter is buttery smooth and l can shift gears with just my thumb and forefinger, except for Reverse which sometime refuses to go in.

 

I agree with the ease of the stick. I'm talking about the clutch engagement and adding of throttle being smooth transition instead I always get the clunk in the drivetrain and I am not new to manual shifting.

 

Is this your first manual transmission 4wd truck though? There is a lot more slop in the driveline. You can be off on a little sports car by a lot and no clunk. The trucks not so much. Same with my 2000 wrangler, if the shift is not close to perfect you will get a clunk/clank.

You can try going a little slower through the transition point or pausing for a tad bit longer at it. While the Tacoma felt pretty tight, it was still noticeably a truck transmission.

I also noticed the truck was a lot smoother shifting at higher RPMs. It did not like being shifted at lower RPM's (like around 2-2.5k). Clunk on clutch in (unless really slow), clunk on engagement, then no torque available.

 

I noticed the higher RPM too, if you take 1st gear to about 4 grand and shift very quickly to 2nd with very minimal loss of Revs it will move you along pretty good and be smooth, it's letting the Revs drop where there is no torque when it feels out of place.

 

when I'm getting on it this is how i go 1 -> 2.

agree, and this makes it fully rewarding to get it right, at speed like mentioned above. one day soon i may go for a SS kit, but the long travel & tricky aim make it a fun challenge for driving this truck. i so love driving this thing.

 

This is all great to hear and makes me feel good about the Truck. I love it and will continue trying to master it. Thanks TW!

 

on my 6th toyota, first 3 were the lx, no tacomas back then. all, including my current 16, were manuals.
nothing against auto, just prefer man. just hate switching to my wifes truck. almost hit the windshield throwing the non exsisting clutch down only to hit the breaks.

 

I love manual transmissions so much I flipped my manual taco just so I could rebuild it and convert a fully running and driving auto taco to manual. Just wanted to spread the love. But actually though I am doing all that more or less, just put my clutch MC in the auto shell...