Hi, I've got an 1987 Toyota 4WD pickup, and recently Ive been having a little bit of a problem getting my manual transmission into reverse. I have to put it in 4th and then go over to reverse, and sometimes I have to do that 2 or 3 times, and it will finally make a clicking noise and go in. All the other gears work fine and shift smoothly. How do I check the shift linkage, because in my Haynes book it only has one blurry picture that I cant even tell where it is.
Thanks.

 

pretty sure there is no "shift linkage"...
maybe the shift pin broke and is preventing you from shifting without blocking it...

 

Also check your shifter seat bushing; may be distintegrated. Order the Marlin Crawler replacement~

 

Hmm, Ive looked at it today, and I know that space-junk is right, there really is no linkage, it goes straight down into the tranny. Its not completley out, because theres times where I can put it right into reverse and it will go right in, and a new trick that works every time now is putting it into 5th, taking it out of 5th, moving it slightly to the left, and then going into reverse and it clicks right in.
TNrabbit, I almost think your right, because I went to that Marlin site, and it showed a video of symtoms of a crappy one, and its exactly like that in all my other gears. It may be a dumb question, but how do I even get to that shifter seat? Thanks

 

you have to remove your surround (if you have one) and leather shift boot... then take off the 4 or 6 bolts holding down the shifter plate on your floorboard... pull the shift knob and the dif shift know off then slide the rubber boots and shift plate off... IIRC, there are a couple ways to pull the different tranny shifters out, and without knowing what motor/tranny combo you have, i cant tell you, but most of them are "push down and 1/4 turn... then replace the parts...

do a search on here on Shifter Seat Replacement... theres a couple detailed writeups and they will help you out doing this...

 

hey i have similer question,

When i try and put my trans in first, it grinds and throws first out of gear, the only way it will stay in is if it push hard on it to keep in first gear, could this be part of the shifter seat problem?, i have alot of slop in gear as well