Erich_870

So I plan on dropping in a rebuilt transmission this spring break if I make it that long. I have an 87' 4cly 4runner with 215,000 miles. I changed the trans fluid and it still sounds like a helicopter when I'm in neutral and all but 4th gear are super loud. So loud my girl frind and I have to shout when I'm on the free way. What I'm wondering is what is involved with the core charge and all.

I'm doing it myself since my girlfriends dad is super mechanical and I want to learn from it. He's cool and understands its a learning expericance so its my job to get it taken care of, with him there to answer questions, supply the tools and a help with the heavy stuff. Plus I can't afford the labor from a shop. I was looking at Marlin's site and saw that they do rebuilds. They seem pretty reasonalbe even with out the core charge of 500 bucks. I'm just trying to find a trust worthy source and Marlin is well known and is a real person, I like that the most I guess. What do you guys think or have to say about the process?

Here is what I grasp so far...

I pay the full price to get the rebuilt transmission. From Marlin thats 750 + 500 = 1250 + s/h. Then I take mine out (lol, I know its not that easy ) Take off the transfer case and bell housing, put on the new transmission and reinstall. Then I drain my old one and crate it up and ship it back down to Marlin. They go through it and give me back most, well hopefully all of my core charge. Right?

Does anyone know what is all new in the transmission if I got it from Marlin?

Well, thats enough questions for now. Thanks guys,

Erich

toy283

Marlin replaces all the usual parts: bearings, gaskets, seals, synchros. The only way your core refund will be lower than what you paid is if there are broken "hard parts", ie gears, shafts, forks, etc.

foxtrapper

A rebuilt tranny is only as good as the person rebuilding it. That said, I'd expect a Marlin box to be excellent. A PepBoys special would worry me.

Have you broached the notion of rebuilding your gearbox with your girlfriends father? I've not done a Toyota gearbox, but I've done a number of others. It's not that hard. Most likely you've got a dying bearing, and those are cheap. Go to a bearing store and you can buy them for about $20. You can probably do the whole job over a long weekend.

From your description of the tranny, I'd expect you'd get your full core charge from Marlin.

MTL_4runner

Marlin does make a solid transmission. No worries there!
I might think twice about rebuilding it yourself unless you are very mechanically inclined.
Even then you need to know what to look for and how to replace it.
A bearing may not be that bad but synhros are a different story.
You may need a press and a couple of other special tools to do it yourself.
Personally if it were my first time I would just pay for a rebuilt and do the install myself.

toy283

Yup, a Toyota transmission requires a few special tools in order to rebuild.

Erich_870

Thats what I thought, I wouldn't touch Peb Boys or Auto Zone with a ten foot pole for this.

Yeah, Her dad said we should do that while we were dealing with it. Thats something else I don't know much about.

Thats what I planned to do. I don't even want to try replace gears and such. I just want a rebuilt trany to be sent to me so I can install it. Thats what Marlin does right?

Thanks guys for all the info, keep it coming!

Erich

Erich_870

Bump

Erich_870

Ok, so I thought I would update my orignal post and I have some more questions. Its now spring break here, THANK GOD!!, and today I and my GF's dad took out my tranny. What a pain!!! Well most of it was easy, but we ran into two problems.

First as we removed the front drive shaft, we had a hell of a time removing the bolts at the transfer box. There is that section right there that has 4 universal joints, I can't remember the exact name, but it has something to do with keeping all the power So that required some extra time. By far the biggest problem was removing the two bolts on the very top of the bell housing. The bolt on the passenger side was some what challenging but I was able to stick my arm through the wheel well and keep the socket lined up as he broke it loose.

Here is my real qustion, is there any way to make the removal and install of
the top bolt on the DRIVERS SIDE any easier??!!! HOLY CRAP it took us almost an hour to get it out We could could barily reach the bolt with ALL of his rachet extenisions and at that point he couldn't get any torque! We finally CUT the end of one of his 17 mm wrenches and fished a hand back behind my heater core hoses and pounded it free with a length of pipe So thats how we got it done since there is no access between the transmission and the fire wall, or the floor for that matter. How in the world are we going to get that damn bolt back IN when my trans is finished?! I'm hoping someone has a trick for it or god help us there might be a new access hole cut in my fire wall to get to that bolt :cry:

Thanks guys, sorry for the length, but I need help

Erich

toy283

Did you dip the rear of the tranny at all? You can usually lower it a few inches which increases clearance nicely. Then 3' worth of extensions with a flex-head usually pops it right off. I've never had any troubles with it at all.

Erich_870

Ok, thats a good point. We didn't really lower it too much. Is there any problems with dropping the tranny when its still attached to the engine? We will make sure to try keeping the rear lower when we put it back in! Thanks

Erich

foxtrapper

Dipping the rear of the engine/tranny assembly as described is a good way to gain clearance from the bottom. Also, jacking it a bit will gain you clearance from the top. I do mine from the top because I've got small hands and can get in there readily enough. Not fun, but doable.

Years ago, some vehicles had access panels in the firewall that would allow you to get to those bolts directly from the interior. You could drill those holes and use plugs in the firewall. Not sure how worthwhile it would be though. There's not an easy way to that section of the firewall from under the dashboard.

Erich_870

We talked about drilling some access holes. My GF's dad had to do that on a Chevy he owned back in the day. Dropping the rear of the tranny should work well.

Thanks guys,

Erich

Erich_870

Well guys, I just wanted to let you know that my rebuilt tranny is back in my rig and it is great!! I appreciate all your advice very much. The reduction in noise is astounding, now I really wish I had recorded it for a before and after comparison! Let me just say this, honestly, I can listen to my music at HALF the original volume!

One problem so far is that the occasional surging problem is still there. I have asked about it many times and I think its a demon I will have to find myself, but I know at least its either before or after the tranny. I’ll find it some day.

In case you were wondering, it needed new bearings and syncros and someone had opened it up before and jerry-rigged some seals, so those were replaced as well. Also a new seal at the rear drive shaft on the transfer case and it was ready to go back in. I was told I had another 300 miles left on my bearings before one came apart and I would be paying over twice as much, guess its good I like a close shave. Wasn’t to bad to reinstall either, had to get a little rough with it to line it up with the clutch/flywheel, but it slipped in after a sec. Saved a lot of dough doing the removal/install and the transfer case seal ourselves.

Thanks guys,

Erich