What have you done to your Pickup / 4Runner today? (Old School Edition)

Hmmm maybe that's the same issue that I'm having with my shifter. Struggle to get into first and now second as well as reverse. Do you think it was mostly the short-throw shifter or do you think just replacing the shifter seat would help?

 

When I did mine, I got a set of these: https://www.marlincrawler.com/transmission/shifter-parts/heavy-duty-sockets as well as the seats. World of difference in a 21 year old truck!

 

You tell me

Seats big time. 230,000 miles and there was barely anything left. After using the short shifter I highly recommend it (very fun and I can actually have a passenger in the middle without goosing them), but I think just getting the LCE seats will help big time. I think the seats/sockets on Marlin are the same on LCE, but don't quote me....

It goes into reverse so easy now I have to double check because I was so used to having to force it in.

 

today i look my dog box off and put miles on it lol

 

Dang, yeah I think I'll try with just replacing the seats and sockets with Marlin things first. I'll probably do the t-case one, too, while I'm in there.
When you were going into reverse, were you having issues with grinding or was it just tough to get it in gear?

 

Both, more often than not I had to have the truck rolling a bit to even have a chance of getting it into gear (and it was grinding as it went in). Nothing now, goes right in.

The front bolts on the top cover were a PITA to get out, mine sat just far enough forward that I could not get an u-joint extension in there. I ended up cutting the cab first just to make it easier (required for the short shift unless you drop your tranny).

 

Awesome, that sounds even more exactly like my problem. That's a much cheaper fix than the transmission I was expecting!

Hmm that'll be interesting. Do you think it would be necessary for just replacing the shifter seats and sockets?

 

Not at all, I just knew I had to anyway and it made it a hell of a lot easier.

 

Sweet! Thanks for all the info!

 

Anybody wanna buy some 89-95 Old Man Emu rear springs?

 

Man, I've been putting off the STS for a year now haha stop with the raving reviews . . .

 

I should have got a pic of my shifter bushing in my '87. It was pretty worn, split and pushed up past the ball . I replaced it, the shifter seat, shifter boot, rear main seal, input seal, pilot and throw out bearings, flywheel, clutch, fork boot, slave cylinder, and installed my DT header with new studs.

 

Hope it solves your issues as well

I might be interested, I need to do a cheap overhaul of my suspension anyway. I wanted to wait till I had enough to do my long travel, but my tires are getting eaten up. What do they give, about 2 inches of lift?

 

Yeah something like that.. I paid $320 + shipping for them + bushings (like $25) and I'll let them go for like $250 + shipping. I've had them on for less than 500 miles and only like 2-3 weeks. They just don't flex as well as my RUF pack in the front so I'm change up the rear for more flex. Don't get me wrong, they do pretty well, but I'm looking for major flex and these just aren't producing like I hoped

Heck, I'll throw in 2 - 12" Bilsteins 5125s with the same miles for $100 more.. So $350 for it all + shipping. I paid $75 a piece plus shipping for the shocks.

 

Installed my cb radio for the upcoming Big Dogs meet in Virginia.

 

damn that's intense

I just pulled out my shifters to check the seats and sockets before ordering new ones. The transmission shifter socket and seat actually look pretty good, but the t-case shifter seat is broken so that needs replacing for sure. I guess I'll replace them all at the same time? Haven't decided on that yet.
I did find a lot of gunk inside...looks like old grease, but I'm not sure. It actually feels like hard rubber that's been broken up into bits, but I can't figure out where there might be a piece that disintegrated. The little rubber boots that cover just the top of the transmission and tcase are coming apart, but it looks like there's more material than what might be missing from those rubber boots.
For now I'm just gonna regrease or whatever (gonna look that up in the FSM) and put it all back together and then order stuff.
I'll post some pictures later

 

.

 

Takes about 45minutes to get to that point, I've done it a few times to multiple trucks now. I'm making way for an upgrade in displacement, going to have a little more power than before.

You should order the shifter seat and sockets for both the t-case shifter and the transmission. It will make a world of difference on a truck as old as yours. Get some shift handle boots while you're at it too. If you have trouble getting the shift handle boot on, just wrap the shifter in black Electrical tape then they should slide right on, same trick also works when changing out your CV boots. And the easiest way to change those parts is to pull your carpet out, you guys are nuts if you do it any other way. Unless you have like a 3" body lift then it might not be to bad.

 

Worked on my buddy's rust bucket of a 94 3.0L Ext. Cab pickup the other day:

- Valve cover gaskets + oil change + leak sealant additive
- Cleaned the throttle body + intake
- Cleaned and oiled the air filter
- Greased the drive shaft and ball joints
- Wiped up all the grease and oil drips from the under carriage
- Removed some ugly ass stickers from his rear window

No pics as of yet but I'm surprised the damn thing even runs. It's been so good to him and he's been terrible to it in return (beats on it and rarely does any maintenance). And yet he's thinking of selling it...

Other than a lot of snapped bolts, they're fun to work on!

 

Wow, I'm sure it would take me a whole lot longer than 45 min! Are you? That sounds intriguing!

I just placed my order for the socket and seat for the transmission, the seat for the tcase, and the boots for both of them. The tcase definitely has to be replaced, so I might as well replace the others while I'm in there, even though they look okay.
What do you mean with the electrical tape trick? Which part do you wrap, the top or the part that inserts into the transmission? I was trying to get the boots off so I could see what I was doing but the black part of the shifter was keeping it from sliding up. My shifters look basically the same as yours in your picture above, but with some slightly different bends just before inserting into the transmission. I tried twisting the black part to separate it from the rest of the shaft, but it wasn't budging. I don't know if they're welded on or what, but I just shoved everything up on the shaft and worked with that. Getting new ones on might be tricky, though...

I don't see how removing any carpet would help...for my truck there's just a metal plate that keeps two separate holes for each shifter stick and there's a plastic box with the synthetic leather cover that goes over that. The carpet is cut to that box. For me at least, the actual metal of the body is the limiting factor in accessing the top of the transmission/tcase, not the carpet.


IMG_5467_small by 92shawman, on Flickr