Last December I went on an awesome trip to Death Valley With the family. We took the 4Runner of course. Four adults in a 1st gen is a tad cramped for a long trip like that...
...anyway, on the way back, about 20-30 miles north of Mojave, 5th gear disappears. Uh oh! Downshift to 4th and cruise into Mojave. At the stoplight I discovered I also didn't have 1st, 2nd or 3rd!
I quickly put it in to low range and 4th and limp to the gas station, and discover no reverse either...
I drove the rest of the way home to Ojai in 4th gear, swapping between low and high range.
When I pulled the transfercase off after removing the tranny from the truck, a bunch of oil dumped out from the void between the two. Apparently the transmission output seal failed and dumped it's oil in there, thereby running dry and toasting the input and countershaft.
258,000 miles and almost 33 years.
I spent January rebuilding the transmission and transfercase, with some upgrades
New Bearings, seals and syncros
New clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, rear main seal
New master and slave cylinders
AX15 2nd and 5th gear (and countershaft)
Marlin Crawler shift forks
I have since put almost 3000 miles on the rebuild, including towing a small U-Haul (after the break in period).
The higher 5th is great for cruising, and the lower 2nd is nice for those slow roll stop signs.
During my research I did find a Toyota part number for a countershaft that could have combined the AX15 5th gear with a lower 1st instead of a lower 2nd, but was unable to source it. Oh well...
Pictures!
...anyway, on the way back, about 20-30 miles north of Mojave, 5th gear disappears. Uh oh! Downshift to 4th and cruise into Mojave. At the stoplight I discovered I also didn't have 1st, 2nd or 3rd!
I quickly put it in to low range and 4th and limp to the gas station, and discover no reverse either...
I drove the rest of the way home to Ojai in 4th gear, swapping between low and high range.
When I pulled the transfercase off after removing the tranny from the truck, a bunch of oil dumped out from the void between the two. Apparently the transmission output seal failed and dumped it's oil in there, thereby running dry and toasting the input and countershaft.
258,000 miles and almost 33 years.
I spent January rebuilding the transmission and transfercase, with some upgrades
New Bearings, seals and syncros
New clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, rear main seal
New master and slave cylinders
AX15 2nd and 5th gear (and countershaft)
Marlin Crawler shift forks
I have since put almost 3000 miles on the rebuild, including towing a small U-Haul (after the break in period).
The higher 5th is great for cruising, and the lower 2nd is nice for those slow roll stop signs.
During my research I did find a Toyota part number for a countershaft that could have combined the AX15 5th gear with a lower 1st instead of a lower 2nd, but was unable to source it. Oh well...
Pictures!