So spending some time under this pile, truck is an '89 4runner 3vze 4x4 5 speed.

Third gear syncro has been shakey since day one (had the truck about 2 years), and the rest have gone out, one after the other as I've put mileage on it.

Blah blah blah

So anyways, I called up YodaJim, and got a replacement box for $150, had a friend up in Denver bring it down for me, and now I'm installing it.

Dropped the t-case and found a pretty substantial leak from the tranny's output seal that had been concealed because the gasket between the tranny and t-case kept it contained. Pulled the original tranny out without too much trouble, battled the bell housing for a while at night before realizing that there was one more bolt (starter bolt from the engine bay side is sneaky!) when I looked at it the next day, lol! Anyways, the tranny input shaft has 2-3mm or radial play, so I'm guessing a combination of a bad input shaft bearing, and the leak at the output seal where contributing factors.

So I've got the bell on the new box, box is up on a jack/jackstand, and I've definitely got the input shaft stabbed through the diaphram spring, but I've been working on it for a while, and can't seem to get it to slip the rest of the way in. I've done plenty of tranny's on other vehicles, and I'm guessing that it just isn't sync'd up with the splines, I was just wondering if anyone had any tips?

Anyways, tips? Idea's? Gonna get back after it tonight, and would like to at least get the bell bolted up.

Thanks for reading!

 

Hold your mouth just right and curse at it are two options.

:wabbit2:

 

LOL, oh so it's the same as a 4g63 tranny...

 

I just did a tranny swap on my 88, same as yours, and i have always put in transmissions alone. Frustrated after one night of trying to line it up and fight it, i called my wifey to man the jack while i guided it in, and it still fought us...spline lube and all.
Anyhow, there was no magic trick, i just used alot of creative language and a hammer tapping on the bell sideways to unload any binding, then she slid in like expected.

 

Sweet, good thing I've got an extensive vocabulary! Gonna be a long night... meh, just a tranny.

Thanks though, there was actually a pretty good tip in there, I'll put some energy through the bell housing with a deadblow, lol!

 

Tap it on the side to jostle it once you feel it slip into the pilot bearing. I had me wife push on the jack toward the engine and I laid under it with my hands on the bell. Then once I got it that far and it wouldn't go by wiggling it I got the hammer.
You did line up the clutch spline with the tool?
You'll get it.

 

well, i spent an hour or so under the truck tonight. i got the input shaft into the pilot bearing by hand, wiggled and hammered for a while with no luck, then decided to try a trick i used on a 22r pickup several years ago. i grabbed a couple longer bolts, and used them like a kinda reverse press, tightening them down evenly a little bit at a time, until the bell made contact with the block, then i called it a night, lol!