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

Interesting... The OEM tune was driving me nuts by the time OV came on the scene. It's possible though, that Toyota could have straightened some stuff out in later versions (so far there are only three that I'm aware of).

 

I don't know if Toyota has made any changes between the 16' and 17's regarding tunes. I do know what you are referring to, and I definitely felt it on a few of the manual trucks I test drove in 2016 and even the 2017s. However, when I mentioned it to the last salesman I was with when I felt the hesitation off bottom, he reminded me that this motor has the torque higher up in the rpms and to get the rpms up over 2.5 k before letting out the clutch. I started doing that in that test drive and the hesitation was reversed enough that it was borderline snappy, which I like. With the wireless throttle pedal/TB connection, we get some rev hang there. So, in my seat of the pants feeling dyno I would recommend just giving the throttle a nice tap to get the revs up to at least 2.5k before you let out the clutch. I've driven mine this way since day one, and it wants to go, and go now.

When I let my wife drive it for the first time she stalled, stumbled on the second try and did fine on the next 4 or 5 starts. She's a really good manual driver and said it was weird. Then we both figured out that she was doing 3rd gear starts. She didn't pull the lever over far enough to get in line with 1st. After that, she was all good.

 

I'm glad it worked out for you man, and oh.. your poor poor clutch with those 3rd gear starts!

 

She didn't even smoke it.

You should have smelled the clutch on my gen 1 roughly two weeks old after trying to climb a steep sand hill off the beach. Back in 1996/1997 winter, the Oregon coast got a nasty storm that took 15-20 feet of beach away leaving a huge wall that used to be a hill. Over the summer, some brave souls worked on pushing sand down in a few areas at Sand Lake, creating ramps essentially. Stupid me, I felt obligated to drive down and play on the beach. Tide was coming in while we were down there, and really needed to get back up very soon. In my attempt, I had it in 4Lo 3rd gear and gave it a run. Once at the top, I had a situation.... a big clump of Ammophila beach grass was in my way, and had to go left or right really quickly. In doing so, I lost a lot of my momentum and had to slip the clutch and keep moving forward without killing the motor, as there was no way I was going to be able to down shift to 2nd in time. Stopping and restarting wasn't going to happen. Backing down from where I currently was positioned wasn't going to happend (20' drop off directly behind me now). Smoked the living crap out of the clutch to the point it stunk for days.

Oddly enough that same damn clutch can still spin rubber through second gear on the pavement, and chirp 3rd with 20 years of driving, towing and 218k miles accumulated on it. Go figure?

Maybe I seasoned it?

 

Yep, you definitely did lol!

 

Yeah that weird stumble/hesitation is very odd but only pops up here and there.

 

It is possible the stumble you feel is when the motor switches between the port and the direct fuel injection systems. I don't know exactly which is used when and what it looks for to switch between the two. Be it load, rpm, moon phase? It's in there somewhere.

 

No idea, you will probably experience it at some point too, I think it took a couple thousand miles before it happened the first time on mine.

 

Has anyone else's shift boot gotten "creaky" when it rubs against itself?

I've always conditioned it with Meguiar's but never had this happen until recently. Maybe because it's 8 years old now. Does anyone have an aftermarket boot that they like?

 

TACK...YOU CACK!!!!

 

Haha, finally someone gets it!

 

Anybody that has the TRD PRO shift knob can vouch for it? How do you like it? Worth the money? Thanks in advance.

 

@shakerhood does

 

I like the Pro Knob alone in looks over that weird Double Ball looking Stock Shift Knob. I got mine around Christmas time and it was like $15 off so it was worth it, maybe a similar deal will pop up again this year.

 

The ball style that came on the 2nd gens? Love it and well worth it.

 

My guess would have been this one: https://www.ebay.com/i/262907291547?chn=ps&dispctrl=1

OA

 

Ah yes, he did say pro and not just TRD. You may be right.

 

just because I can on a Wednesday night....carryon.

 

You know, I thought it was weird and blocky at first, but now I really like it. It's a good handful unlike my TRD shift knob on my sandrail that I feel I'm supposed to grip between my thumb and index finger, it's so small. I really like the little lip on the front of it. I like to shift from 3rd to 4th with a little throw from my index and middle finger looped over the top and into the lip.

Looks wise, I think it's a bit Frankenstein's monster honestly with all the different little pieces of plastic and "chrome" plastic boot keeper and mostly hidden stitching, but hey...cool monster.

 

Yep, nailed it.
I backed a trailer up a hill with mine on the first day (after 500 miles of break-in). Stunk it up badly. I think all the flashing on that clutch from the factory should be taken care of now. Clutch is nice and broken in.
I switched to 4Lo after that and it worked great, though speed was obviously limited. I'm sure one doesn't want to use 4Lo on pavement too much, but this was on gravel.

Anyone with transmission knowledge know if backing up in 4Lo on rare occasions with a trailer on hard pavement is going to cause drivetrain problems in the long run? (for me it would be once or twice a year I bet at most and probably less than 15-20 feet). Maybe better to just burn a little clutch for those times.