I have a 1989 4wd pickup 22re. Over the last couple weeks I have been having on and off again shifter problems where the shifter will pop out of 3rd gear when letting off the throttle or hitting a hump in the road. On a few occasions while pulling out in first it will just randomly pop out of gear, but go right back in and be fine. Today it popped out of 3rd gear when letting off the throttle, you can look down and watch the shifter move back about a half inch or so and pop out of gear. I have just installed new seat and ball on the shifter, checked fluid, and the clutch, pilot, slave and master cylinder have roughly 20k miles on them. I just ordered a new trans bushing and I'm waiting for it to come in. Has anyone had any experience like this one before, it has me stumped at this point so I wanted to reach out and see if I could get some suggestions from people who might have had this problem or something similar.

 

Check the shifter boot and make sure it is not pinching on the floor pan and not letting you shift it all the way into gear

 

I will double check that for sure but I have had the shifter out 3 times in the last few days checking and looking at things. I have tried a couple different shifter sockets and a couple different shifter base bushings, a new factory one and a new marlin one. The motor has a new poly mount on it, but the trans mount is the original mount I'm guessing, it's not torn or anything but it looks like it's squished in the rear. When shifting and letting off the clutch the gears seems to be engaging fine, it's only when are giving it throttle and then letting off the throttle that you can watch the shifter move back enough to come out of gear, then it's feels like the shifter is in a bind resulting in the gear grinding a little. I will check the boot again tonight and give it try.

 

I went ahead and took the shifter assembly back out last night to check the boot. The boot was not binding the shifter, and everything was seated properly. I worked the shifter rod inside the trans and it seems to go through all the gears smoothly but once I install the shifter, it acts like it's not wanting to fully go into 3rd gear. There is nothing that I can see stopping it from going forward into gear but it just feels like it is not going far enough forward to hold the trans in 3rd.

 

do you rest your hand on the gearshift knob while driving?
and just for reference, do you know last time bearings were replaced?

 

I have never changed anything inside the transmission and I have owned the truck since it had 135k on it, so I am guessing they have never been changed out. I never rest my hand on the shifter while driving. It only starting doing this after hitting a really rough spot in the road. The instant I hit the spot the transmission came out of 3rd and it has been jumping out of 3rd gear on and off again since that happened

 

Likely no fix but transmission overhaul or replacement

 

The reason I asked about resting your hand on the gearshift is we did see a few cases where the vehicle popped out of gear, and we found wear on the fork and sleeve for that gear. The only explanation we had was the possibility of the drivers putting subtle force on it while driving.
I asked if it ever got new bearings is because I think you’re looking at a trans disassembly. The one bright spot is you were probably due for new bearings anyway. So do a teardown, hopefully find a reason for the issue, then put new bearings and a clutch in it.

 

I've read several times throughout the years about resting you hands on the shifter while driving could lead to problems down the road. I was looking and hoping for a solution to this problem that didn't require me having to tear it apart and have my truck down for awhile but it looks like I'm going to have to at least split the cases and try to find what the issue is. I had my fingers crossed that someone would say they experienced a similar issue and that it was simple fix. I appreciate all the input everyone has given! Where do you all normally buy the rebuilt kit at and what is the popular brand people uses for the bearings and other internals?
Thanks again

 

I only use Koyo and Naichi bearings.
Oem synchros are pretty durable. There are grooves on the inside of a synchro. You want the edges of those grooves not to worn or rounded, otherwise it won't "float" in the oil on the hub surface very well. Make sure the teeth on the outer rim look ok. I reused all of mine. Obviously, you'll have to pay particular attention to all pieces associated with the hub in question.

You might call Marlin Crawler to see if they offer a bearing kit.
You can order individual bearings, the gasket set, etc through Amayama.com or EPC-data.com. You might wait a week or two longer, but their prices on bearings compared to most online sites makes it worth it.
If you go to one of those sites, and have questions, lmk.
Having a FSM is certainly helpful.

 

Thanks for the info. I have manual that's about worn out from years of use and looking at things in it. I only drive roughly 6 miles a day in the truck but any little thing that's not right absolutely drives me crazy. The truck seems to do alright until the motor and transmission gets warmed up and then it starts the slipping out. I will investigate further this weekend when I have some down time and try to figure out a plan on what to do, thanks again for the help and info
If I could find a usable transmission for a fairly decent price I'd buy it and just swap them out until I can get to split mine and put the parts in it. I hate to not have this truck to drive to work and have to use my other car for that purpose.
I have found 6 transmissions over the last 2 days in my area but they are all the 88 and below style with the separate shifter holes

 

After digging a little deeper and removing the shifter plate, I found the rubber seal between the tranny and plate was bunched up in front of the shifter rod. I notched that piece of rubber out and the sifter seems to be fully engaging like it should. I've only driven the truck about 15 miles but it seems to have helped the shifting problem.
Does anyone know where I could possibly get a new shifter plate seal or have a part number? I have looked through the service manual and I don't even see this rubber gasket in it. I have found several but they are for the single shifter.

 

If you get your model number off the vin plate in the door jam you can go to EPC-data.com and look up the part number.
If we're talking about the same thing, it's an oil baffle.
I'm not sure on the w56-c, but my baffle has washer/spacers at each bolt hole so you can't overtighten and squish the baffle. Might be worth draining the oil and see if those come out.

Good find, though! Congratulations.

 

The washers are still there on the rubber. The rubber had rolled up some how and was in front of the rod that the shifter attaches to. I trimmed the rubber back so it wouldn't be binding the shifter rod, but I'd like to try to find a new one to go in there. The piece I am looking for is indeed the oil baffle, but the only ones I can find is for the w56 a & b, I can not locate the piece for the c, d or e
I've also tried looking on the site you provided and they do not have that rubber oil baffle I am looking for listed. I'll keep searching and maybe I'll get a response on here or find it online
Thanks for the help

 

Update: I found the part number for the oil baffle.

 

You might consider posting that part number in order to help others

 

I have tried posting the part number 5 times and they will not post

 

I have tried putting these numbers in on the previous post and they will not show up for some reason.
Rubber seal-33143-35040
Gasket-33584-35070

 

Thanks again, I will continue searching and if all else fails I will try to just cut one out myself and see how that works