R150F Manual Transmission Rebuild (2 Viewers)

[sdb999]

Looking for first hand experience and references for transmission rebuilder. US only please.
Thanks, S.

 

[KLF]

Looking for first hand experience and references for transmission rebuilder. US only please.
Thanks, S.

R150F for 1996-04 3.4-liter | Marlin Crawler, Inc.

Please Note: We currently do NOT have any rebuildable 3.4-liter transmission cores. We are trying to come up with cores in good, rebuildable condition suitable to our stand...

www.marlincrawler.com

 

[Bad Karma]

Do it yourself, it's pretty easy. I just did an R151F with R150F gears, no special tools other than a press. There's some rebuilding videos on Youtube, the Moses Ludel one is great.

 

[sdb999]

Do it yourself, it's pretty easy. I just did an R151F with R150F gears, no special tools other than a press. There's some rebuilding videos on Youtube, the Moses Ludel one is great.

Yea, I looked into it. I'm really booked pretty solid this year...I have enough time to pull/install tranny but I'm tight on both space and time to do the rebuild. I might sit down and watch the videos again and review the FSM. Life always seems to give me money or time, but never at the same time. I'm looking at Martin Crawler, they seem pretty thorough on their rebuilds but turn around is crazy long. We'll see. Thanks for the nudge.

 

[Bad Karma]

No problem! I ordered the rebuild kit from Cobra Transmission, it had all OEM bearings (the big ones, no needle bearings), and I used OEM synchros, which upped the cost considerably... If you're just doing a basic bearings and seals rebuild, you can get it done in a day.

I also have a Marlin-rebuilt R150F that I've been holding onto for a project for a few years now. They are nice units, it took several weeks to get it. I hope it works, it went out of warranty quite a while ago...

 

[ferg]

I run a Marlin built R150 behind a GM 4.3L V6. Good stuff, no problems.

 

[cruisermatt]

I can rebuild these. I can also upgrade the 5th gear to be a .72 ratio from the original .86.

 

[PIP]

Back in a previous life I rebuilt and repaired around 500 W and R series Toyotas and whatever the Jeep equivalents were- AX15?

Fairly simple transmissions. No real tricks or surprises inside. I made a tool to remove 5th gear real fast, but I don't think you need it for just doing one.

Look for somebody that specializes in stickshifts. Lots of auto trans builders just don't really take the time or effort to do a stickshift correctly.

Transmission builders are mostly crooks. That industry is just an ugly side of humanity.

 

[sdb999]

Yea, I'm leaning to rebuild it myself. Might do the 87' first for practice as it's not a daily driver. I can't really leave my wife without her 99' Runner for more than a few days, nor have it go back together in worse shape than it came out.

Might be worth mentioning the issue:
1999' V6 5 speed, 312k miles. Most of its life with redline but a few cycles of fossil-based. Clutch was replaced at 285k, after which we started to notice some resistance going into first when cold. Once warmed up no issues. All other gears, no issues. Clutch hydraulics replaced at 300k as it started to get worse, couldn't really sort out what was going on. Ultimately I determined it wasn't external to the gear box, something internal was slowly failing and timing with clutch replacement was just coincidental. I could be wrong. I'll try another seat and socket replacement, but I'm not optimistic, then it's sorting out a rebuild. Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks, S.

 

[PIP]

Yea, I'm leaning to rebuild it myself. Might do the 87' first for practice as it's not a daily driver. I can't really leave my wife without her 99' Runner for more than a few days, nor have it go back together in worse shape than it came out.

Might be worth mentioning the issue:
1999' V6 5 speed, 312k miles. Most of its life with redline but a few cycles of fossil-based. Clutch was replaced at 285k, after which we started to notice some resistance going into first when cold. Once warmed up no issues. All other gears, no issues. Clutch hydraulics replaced at 300k as it started to get worse, couldn't really sort out what was going on. Ultimately I determined it wasn't external to the gear box, something internal was slowly failing and timing with clutch replacement was just coincidental. I could be wrong. I'll try another seat and socket replacement, but I'm not optimistic, then it's sorting out a rebuild. Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks, S.

I would say 80% chance it's not the transmission.

I did stick trans work. I knew the transmissions well, but I don't know every vehicle inside and out. 1st gear synchro is not a typical high-wear item. 3rd and 4th will see the brunt of synchro wear. They will scratch first before other gears, typically, because they are the "drive like a teenager" gears.

First test- Do not put it in 1st at a stop. Instead, try to put it in a different gear. Try all of them. Not at one time though. Like drive, stop completely, try putting in 2nd. or 3rd, whatever. Then drive, stop and try a different gear.

Does it feel same or different than if you put it in 1st?

If it feels kinda the same going into another gear then the issue is 100% not 1st gear synchro. The issue is incomplete clutch disengagement.

Some pickups have issues with lost motion in the pedal bushings under the dash. This is a big problem for Fords. I have not seen it in a Toyota, but I was working on 90's toyotas 20 years ago. Something to check. Google it, see if it's a common problem.

other things that will cause incomplete clutch disengagement- A crap clutch. And yes, I have seen clutches get worse with this the more miles are on them. Back in the day I had a high number of LUK clutches have this problem. They always warrantied them.

Bad pilot bearing. Ball pilot bearings should spin real easy, like a cheap roller skate bearing. If they are stiff you will have trouble with disengagement.

 

[5speed addict]

I would say 80% chance it's not the transmission.

I did stick trans work. I knew the transmissions well, but I don't know every vehicle inside and out. 1st gear synchro is not a typical high-wear item. 3rd and 4th will see the brunt of synchro wear. They will scratch first before other gears, typically, because they are the "drive like a teenager" gears.

First test- Do not put it in 1st at a stop. Instead, try to put it in a different gear. Try all of them. Not at one time though. Like drive, stop completely, try putting in 2nd. or 3rd, whatever. Then drive, stop and try a different gear.

Does it feel same or different than if you put it in 1st?

If it feels kinda the same going into another gear then the issue is 100% not 1st gear synchro. The issue is incomplete clutch disengagement.

Some pickups have issues with lost motion in the pedal bushings under the dash. This is a big problem for Fords. I have not seen it in a Toyota, but I was working on 90's toyotas 20 years ago. Something to check. Google it, see if it's a common problem.

other things that will cause incomplete clutch disengagement- A crap clutch. And yes, I have seen clutches get worse with this the more miles are on them. Back in the day I had a high number of LUK clutches have this problem. They always warrantied them.

Bad pilot bearing. Ball pilot bearings should spin real easy, like a cheap roller skate bearing. If they are stiff you will have trouble with disengagement.

So there could be an issue with the clutch pedal itself, the 4runner design is pretty complicated and fast wearing for a clutch pedal. There’s a little plastic bushing between the spring and the pedal arm that eventually breaks and the spring ends up eroding the pedal arm.

Pedal develops some weird slop at first and you have to do stuff like lift it with your toe to activate cruise control, I guess if the wear is bad enough it could stop fully engaging but I haven’t experienced it.

New pedal arm is $100ish from Toyota, buy all the bushings too.

 

[gotzero]

New member watching this thread with great interest. 305,000 mile '97 here with original clutch which needs replacement, wondering if I should rebuild transmission at the same time.

 

[sdb999]

Couple of updates. @5speed addict is probably correct. If I press in the clutch and wait five seconds, transmission slips nicely into first or any other gear. If I try to engage immediately it hangs. This is only on a cold engine/transmission, once up to temp all is well. So, it's in the bellhousing not tranny and I'm planning to get it on the lift next weekend and see what I can put eyes on. As for the plastic clutch pedal bushing: I'd replaced those numerous times when it was new, after the second or third time I made one out of brass and have had no complaints since, but I might take a look just the same. @gotzero I'm going to say at this time our transmission is solid at 312k, there are no other issues other than this cold tranny sticking. I'll report back when I know more. Thanks for all the help.
cheers, S.

 

[PIP]

Couple of updates. @5speed addict is probably correct. If I press in the clutch and wait five seconds, transmission slips nicely into first or any other gear. If I try to engage immediately it hangs. This is only on a cold engine/transmission, once up to temp all is well. So, it's in the bellhousing not tranny and I'm planning to get it on the lift next weekend and see what I can put eyes on. As for the plastic clutch pedal bushing: I'd replaced those numerous times when it was new, after the second or third time I made one out of brass and have had no complaints since, but I might take a look just the same. @gotzero I'm going to say at this time our transmission is solid at 312k, there are no other issues other than this cold tranny sticking. I'll report back when I know more. Thanks for all the help.
cheers, S.

Did you do the troubleshooting I suggested above? I took the time to write you a novel on fixing your truck. You seem to have ignored or misunderstood it.

If it grinds when cold and goes in with an extended clutch hold then your 1st synchro is likely trashed.

You need to troubleshoot as I suggested.

 

[sdb999]

@PIP my apologies, I mistakenly attributed that diagnosis to 5speed addict. Yes, verbatim. As you expected, ALL gears feel the same after testing at stop. In fact the sensation feels precisely (for all gears) as if the clutch is not depressed. The only anomaly is the warm engine/tranny behaviour, which takes about 10-15 miles to show up.
Thanks again for the course correction, we'll see where if goes.
S.