3vzePower

My 2001 Tacoma just suddenly stopped shifting all the way into 3rd and 4th gear. I haven't had any shifting problems before and all the other gears shift smooth and normal. I would say the stick only goes 1/2 way up into 3rd and 1/2 way back into 4th. It will catch the gears okay and it hasn't popped out of them yet but I can tell it isn't fully engaged. It feels as though something is jamming the shifter from moving the whole throw length. It feels the same with the engine off as well so I don't suspect a clutch or worn syncro. This just happened while I was driving home from vacation.

I see a lot of post about the Shifter bushing and seat going bad. Could this make the shifter feel jammed in certain gears? 1, 2, 5, and reverse all feel normal and don't feel loose or sloppy.

I have noticed on a friends 93 pickup that all of his gears feel short like my 3rd and 4th. Once in a while his will grind and sometimes they will pop out. I always figured he had a diff trans and that it was normal on his particular trans to have such a short shift throw, but now I am wondering.

Also I have experienced the loose and sloppy shift on my 92 4 runner. The shifter on it feels like it's about to fall off in my hand when I shift as it will wiggle all over the place and it just started to pop out of 1rst once in a while. I just figured this was normal syncro wear at 225K miles. After reading about the Seat and Bushing going bad I am sure that this is the issue for my 4 runner but not sure about my Tacoma.

Anyone ever had the short / jammed shift problem?

yoder519

i have a 95 pickup and mine did the exact same thing, but it did it in 2nd 3rd and 4th, it would fall outta 3rd alot. my shifter bushing was worn waaaaayyy down. i think theyre about 20 bucks at the most so i would start with that because it couldnt hurt to have a new one if it aint never been changed. mine feels like a new tranny now and it couldnt be any tighter

B. Graves

marlin crawler has the seat and bushing. it was like $16 shipped to me.

3vzePower

Do I need to know which tranny I have or are the parts the same for any tranny?
-- I'm not sure which tranny I have off hand.

3vzePower

Never mind, I see it is self explained on the Marlin Crawler site. Looks like I have the R150F I ordered a seat and bushing for both my trucks and my friend's rig. I will let you know how It turns out when ever I get them installed.

Also, I took a wack at trying to pop my shifter out. I couldn't get the cap to push down and turn but I will take another look at it when I get home from work.

3vzePower

I had a little trouble getting the cap off. I could push it down but I had trouble getting it to twist once I pushed it down. I ended up using a set of spark plug wire pulling pliers to push the cap down and twist it at the same time. The pliers I used were shaped so that I could use in this manner. Not sure if I could have twisted with my fingers. Just a tip for anyone doing this for the first time, the cap is the inside piece not the outer ring. I was unclear on this until I seen some decent pictures of it.

Once I got in there I could see that the seat was my problem. My shifter seat was deteriorating and was in many small greasy pieces. My bushing was in good shape but I replaced it also. I had a little rubber washer that was under my seat and I tried to install the new seat in with it, but I wasn't able to get the cap back on so I took it out. All seems to work well so I guess I didn't need it. It shifts like new again and I can push it all the way into the gears now!! Can't wait to fix my 4runner shifter!