H55f detent ball/spring replacement (1 Viewer)

[Nz Nath]

My truck sometimes pops out of first when gently engine breaking down hills on 4wd tracks. Searching the forum suggests this is the detent ball and spring. I also wonder if the ball is chewed up it might explain why it's sometimes hard to select 1st (topcase does this even off the box).

So I ordered two balls and springs figuring I'd do 3rd/4th as well for good measure. I had the box rebuilt by a shop last year and they must have done the detent on 5th as it clicks in nicely now but the other gears felt unchanged, don't 'click' in as firmly.

So none of the threads I found said how to get to the detents. One post suggested there's bolts holding them in from the outside like on the transfer but that's definitely wrong. I had the topcase off before but didn't pay too much attention to the shafts, so I was hoping there'd be bolts on the inside not shown on the manual, but now I see it's not that easy.

So the detents seem to be on the top of the photo (rear of topcase). Do I just knock out the little pins holding the selectors to the shafts on the bottom of the photo so I'm able to slide the shafts far enough to the bottom to expose the detents in the holes at the top? What's the easiest way to remove the plugs on the bottom that seal the shaft passages, pry with screwdriver or slide hammer with shaft? Are the pins that hold the selectors to the shafts, and the plugs, reusable or do I need to order new ones?

 

[roscoFJ73]

Have you looked around for a gearbox manual? The toyota gearbox manual often pops up for free downloading. It covers 4-5 landcruiser and dyna/coaster g/boxes.
I took my top cover to a small gearbox shop and the guy swapped it for a good one and $50. My shift forks were pretty worn.

 

[Nz Nath]

I looked in the disassembly section of the manual, and you remove the 1st/2nd shaft and tight plug by whacking the selector fork with a plastic mallet after removing the pin from the selector part. It's more vague on how you hit the 3rd/4th shaft/plug out.

The spring and ball for 1st/2nd seemed fine, always disappointing to take something apart that you're expecting to find broken but isn't. I didn't bother trying to do the 3rd/4th detent because of this, and because it seemed less straight forward. Fitted new spring and ball to 1st /2nd.

Reused the same spring pin and tight plug, they seemed fine. Selecting 1st or 2nd doesn't feel any different to before, but the occasional reluctance to go into 1st seems to be fixed. It seems unlikely that the new spring/ball fixed it as the old ones seemed identical, but either way it's a win. Time will tell if the occasional popping out of 1st when engine braking is also fixed. But my engine mounts were rooted previously, so hopefully without the engine/gbox flinging around and with possibly marginally better detent action, that'll be solved also.

 

[gerg]

Did you replace the shifter bushings in the tower? I'm thinking it probably couldn't cause your symptoms most likely but worth a try.

 

[himhj60]