Hey all, I scoured the forums, and while finding many similar cases, I didn't stumble across anything like this, so I figure I'll ask away.

Vehicle info: '89 SR5 pickup, 22RE/5spd, 2WD, 240K

My problems started about 6 weeks ago when I was driving home from work. Shifted into 2nd getting on the freeway and 2nd gear ground pretty bad. Shook it off as a crappy shift on my part, and told myself to be careful. Nothing happened again for about 3 weeks. Then about 3 days ago, practically overnight, the truck starts grinding on about 7/10 of its shifts, regardless of gear (although it seemed most common in 1, 2, &4). I immediately stopped driving it after that day, so I wouldn't screw anything up. Experimenting with it in the driveway, I noticed that the shifter will actually slowly slide from 1st to neutral as I let the clutch out with it in first; the truck does not move and the clutch doesn't feel like it engages at all when I do this. I have tried holding the shifter in 1st and letting the clutch out to prevent the stick from moving, and it grinds BAD when I do that. 1st gear is completely unusable. The truck has always had a pretty soft clutch, pedal is easy to depress and catches slowly, it's definitely an older clutch. Is it just clutch time, or does this sound like something else?

 

Have you ever replaced the shifter seat? I would start there. Marlin Crawler makes a good one.

 

https://www.marlincrawler.com/transm...avy-duty-seats You need the white one. I would also replace the socket.

 

Yes, I have seen that. I actually ordered both of the shifter bushings from my local Toyota dealer yesterday, they'll be in in a couple of days. My shifter has virtually no slop in it though so I don't think they'll be bad. I'm just amazed at how bad it got this fast.