Driving to work this morning. Take off from a light just before a few blocks of down hill road. 1st, 2nd, into 3rd i use 3rd to basically coast down this hill.

When i hit 3rd whole truck starts shaking/shuddering.

Engine revs are fine and clutch isnt slipping but steering wheel, shifter handles are shaking like mad.

punch the clutch and pull over quickly to let cars pass, then take off in 1st, no shaking, 2nd a little shaking, more so if i let off the throttle, 3rd violent shaking and a light metallic rattle, not consistent or rythmic just an erratic light tinkity tink. Also, when i pulled over with clutch in and transmission still in 3rd gear the shaking continued until i was almost completely stopped.

Called in to work and turned around and headed home (less than a mile away from home at this point)

Drove home in 1st and 2nd, this time uphill, more throttle = less shaking, come to level road and take off, 1st is ok, now 2nd shakes bad until about 3k gets better but never stops, revved up 3rd and grabbed 4th to check 4th gear, seriously bad shaking

Background:
1980 toyota pickup

A little over 100 miles on rebuilt 22r with the usual hop ups
new stock style motor mounts, old tcase mount looked fine, reused it.
new Marlin HD clutch/slave cyl.
new flywheel
new throw out and input bearings
new clutch fork
old original t case, leaks a tiny bit under the rear flange even after hd ecoseal

New to me, HDL52 marlin transmission....i kinda got hosed here, it doesn't make any bearing noises or grinds, but it pops out of 3rd and 4th on deceleration, I have only had it in since the engine swap and i just hold the shifter in place lightly when i think it might try and pop out of gear. i can feel 3rd kinda buck against my hand. Haven't decided what to do about it yet as far as fix it or get rid of it. Not sure where to start on that one.

rear drive line looks like someone pumped too much grease in it but it hasn't been a problem....until now maybe.

This shuddering all came about suddenly, there was no build up to it, fine one minute, not fine the next

any of this ring any bells for anyone? I have three days to fix it, whatever IT is.

 

If you bought that tranny directly from Marlin, I would be on the horn to them...

 

I know this is a given, but did you check the u-joints thoroughly?

Also see if you have any play in the DS at the tranny and at the diff. May have a bad bearing.

If its not any of that, I'd definitely start looking into the tranny. Anytime you have one problem with a transmission, it can turn into many.

 

I should clarify, I bought it used, found it on craigslist. Shelled out 5 hundred bucks for it, thought i was getting a deal. Now i know why the guy was willing to deliver it from 250 miles away for a little gas money. He sang me a song about how it was in perfect condition he just wanted to use chevy running gear in his runner so it had to go to fund the swap. Looking back, im sure he knew it was toast. hell for all i know he jb welded a marlin badge and signed the side with a red sharpie and its just a common L52.

I have had good experiences with products and services when dealing with Marlin directly.

 

o.k. i got under there and immediately saw the issue......somehow the bolts holding my drive line to the t case rattled loose, only one remained tight, one gone completely, one missing the nut, one with nut about to fall off. I did the right thing turning around and limping home, if the front of the drive line came loose while driving at speed,....ho...ly...crap that would have been bad, catapult city! I think its time for new hardware, really strange that it came loose in the first place, i usually have a habit of hulking out a little too much when tightening nuts and bolts, its more common for me to bust threads or strip heads than under tighten anything. anyone ever nun nylocks and spring washers slathered in red locktite on drive line flanges? lol....because i am about to.

 

Good deal glad you got it figured out. Figured it was something around the DS.

As for bolts I usually just run the factory hardware.

 

I ran to my nearby Ace Hardware, got some ss allen bolts with hardened nuts n washers, then i chased a bowl of wheaties with a can of spinach and went to tightening. Took a drive, problem solved, and weirdly, trans didnt pop out of gear at all. Still have the rattling sound though. Maybe i lost a clip on my clutch fork? I dont know, but i hate rattles.

 

if you hate rattles don't drive a Toyota that is 30+yrs old lol im with you i hate rattles also that why i turn up the radio

 

Yea, Black youve got me there, transmission rattles are a little more frustrating to me than most other rattles. Instead of new cab mount bushings, tightening some dash screws, welding a shaky bumper end, some brand new really sturdy exhaust hangars, a freshly rebuilt engine, new mounts and some creative bending to the tailgate latches..i should have upgraded my turd of a stock radio lol.

 

radio is one of the first things i do in every car i have owned

 

OK. Sounds like you DID get a DEAL!

500 bucks. Nice.

So, How about a few details....your posts don't have any details. What year? SR5? standard cab? Add a photo to your sig!

 

x2 truck porn now

 

Dear Penthouse Forum...my rig is a 1980 short bed pickup the goal for my build is to revive and old champion, i want a utilitarian vehicle, not a balls out trail rig only, not just a pavement pounding blacktop queen, i drive my truck to work everyday, i fish, hike, camp, i want my truck to take me way back in the woods and out again,
its an sr5, but i removed the gauge pod. it wasnt working anyway and it was getting in my way when i was stealing 12v for my electric fuel pump.

i bought the truck almost a year ago, it was stuck in 4wd and if you didnt keep it revved up it would die and the headlights and wipers would periodically cut out at the worst times. Still had the 20r and 4speed in it, key would stick and i had to jiggle the hell out of it to shut the truck off sometimes... i missed a few things when i looked it over before buying, like that it had been rolled, top cut off and a new cap had been welded on, to be fair the po did an ok job of it....then i started finding body filler....lots of it, and apparently if you paint rust bright yellow....its really hard to see...for a little while lol.

i prioritized my list of want and needs, 1st thing to go was the ignition switch, in doing so i cleaned inside the steering column, since then wipers have given me no more trouble, headlight plugs were corroded, little dielectric grease and sandpaper, bam brighter than ever.
bald 30 inch tires had to go, wild country mt 31s went on.
4 speed got the boot, got an L52 to put in, worked, but whiny and reverse was laughable with the noise it made. and it was firmly smashed against my cab floor making for a lot of cab noise.
20r started getting hot a lot, but worked, so i snagged a core 83 22r longblock that had a timing cover failure. Took it all down to Tod at engnbldr, he did the usual machining and i slapped a rebuild on it including 261c cam, converting to dual row timing, an offy intake, weber 32/36, holley fuel pressure regulator and gauge, stainless long tube tri y header, new cat, cheap turbo style (quiet) muffler and 2 1/4 pipe all the way, big 3 row radiator and im running a GM 120 amp alternator in 3 wire fashion, to give me some expansion room for future electrical gadgets.
while the new engine was still on a stand, I was getting tired of the noisy transmission (at least it stayed in gear) and i come across a fella selling this HDL52 so i jumped, bagged it up until i installed it with the new engine, put in new 4xi solid mounts, took out 4xi solid mounts lol,
most recently i put in a 1 inch body lift along with all new poly cab mount bushings, now my cab is up of the transmission, 1 inch really makes some things easier to work on
engine is still breaking in i think, it doesnt have the oomph that it should, the worn out 20r had as much guts as i have now, but it runs much smoother now and never gets hot.
ill get some good pics up, im bad about not getting out the camera when i should.
i still have a long way to go, but im pleased with the progress i have made so far, once this transmission issue is resolved im moving on to suspension and interior.