Krash

(Manual W56 Tranny)
Ok background info applys here:
Was on my way to school the other day, happened to be in 4th or 5th gear can't remember. And I noticed the rpms drop slowly. I thought I was seeing things but didn't pay much attention to it.

Alright I was on my way to drop a friend off from breakfast this morning after work. Get going down the road and put it into 4th gear. I'm pressing the gas I notice the rpms easily glide up then back down, all while I had the gas in the same spot. This puzzled me for a second then I thought back to the fluke that happened that I described above. So I let off the gas, slow down a little bit, and press it again. It went to about 2500rpms then slid up to 3000 then back down to about 2600. Did this a couple of times all the simliar results. I dropped my friend off and then started heading home, thinking to myself that my transmission is going bad, and getting somewhat @#$%ed off. Tested it a couple of times on the way home and couldn't really get the same results as I did on the way to drop my friend off. I thought I noticed a couple of things but I think thats just me being paranoid.

I get home thinking that my transmission is bad, and go look to see if there is a W56 in my 2wd parts truck. Of course its not its a W55.

Now my questions:
Anyone know what might be the problem with the transmission? I hope a rebuild isn't needed at least till I get some more money. I hope at the most its a new clutch.

I did some searching on 4x4wire and pirate and didn't seem to get a real difinitive answer. Does anyone know if its possible to bolt up a W55 to replace the W56? I read that it may be difficult because of the transfercase shifter being inside the w56.

Any help with this is greatly appreciated since I'm probably going to lose a little sleep over this now that I think that my transmission is going out.

MTL_4runner

Yep, you got it right.....you need a new clutch.
Make sure to have the flywheel resurfaced when you do it.

Krash

Oh thank god. You're the second person to tell me that, I'm just glad I don't need a whole new tranny. Though I'm betting that draining it and refilling it with some redline MT-90 or amsoil wouldn't hurt.

toy283

In the event you needed to swap trannies at a later date, it can be doen. However, you will need to swap out the whole tailhousing/adapter assembly from the 56 to the 55. Also, you will need to swap over the output shaft and bearings.

FWIW, the t-case shifter on your W56 should not be in the tranny tailhousing but on the t-case itself.

MTL_4runner

You can drain and fill but make sure you use the correct fluid when you do.
I think it uses gear oil but check the manual!

There is no way for a manual to slip in gear except a clutch.
If the manual does slip and it ain't the clutch then you are going nowhere fast in that bad boy.

Plays_with_Toys

Word to the wise, shop around... alot! I replaced my clutch 3 weeks ago. I had price quotes from $640-900, to over $1000 at dealers. I ended up paying $700 even for the clutch and a new slave cylinder. I hope you have enough funds after that paintjob, I'm doing the reverse order, clutch and now I am saving for the spraying.

Krash

Figured I would post an update to this just incase anyone was following it.

I just got the clutch replaced, that was the definate problem. Said it was 8/1000ths off or something, I just got off the phone with the guy that replaced it about half an hour ago. I go pick it up in about an hour or two. He also said that the rear of my valve cover was leaking also and might have caused it to slip a little bit also. So thats next on the list of things to be replaced. Thanks guys for the help. Oh yeah in getting quotes I averaged about 250 for labor and 100$ for parts. I paid a friends husband 200 for labor and I bought the parts at a local clutch place for 90$. So when Plays_with_toys said to shop around, it is a good idea.

Just for good measure. He told me a way to tell if a clutch is going out is if your able to take off in a high gear such as 4th or 5th then its your clutch. I don't know exactly how this works but I figured I would put it up incase someone was searching to see if their clutch is goin out.