Stuck low range gear.in 100 series.

[HZJ105R]

Try some (Dexron) ATF mixed 50/50 with acetone. If you just want to buy something off the shelf, Kano Kroil may be your best bet. It also smells much better than PB Blaster. I fixed mine with Marvel Mystery Oil, since I have no use for ATF.

Penetrating Oil Test

www.gmcmhphotos.com

 

[Mauser]

I was going to suggest the auto trans fluid and acetone too. A little heat will help too

 

[MongooseGA]

@Whiskerz went through this before in his FJC, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a matter of being stuck/seized. Mark, how did you end up getting yours un-sucked?

 

[JunkCrzr89]

Having the exact same issue now. We were in the bush and it got stuck on the way between L and H. It wouldn't budge. I tried with my foot, but was too tall to fit. My wife, a little shorter, was able to leg press it into H, and we were back on the road. We actually ended up bending the lever a bit, but that's better than being stuck in 4LO on the highway.

Any way, home now, lever assembly has been removed, but it is STUCK fast, and definitely corroded. Two of the four bolts holding it on were loose and the gaskets were shot. An overnight soak with WD40 did nothing. Next up is ATF. I assume this is Automatic Transmission Fluid?

Any ideas on best practice to straighten the lever? Technically its not really necessary, it just puts the knob closer to the dash and strains the leather boot a tad.

IMG_9287.JPG

• wildpaths
• Jul 21, 2020

IMG_9290.JPG

• wildpaths
• Jul 21, 2020

IMG_9289.JPG

• wildpaths
• Jul 21, 2020

That’s corroded really bad. You’ll probably need to let it soak for a couple of days. Put the shifter in a vice and apply Heat and force to straighten it back out.

 

[IndroCruise]

Having the exact same issue now. We were in the bush and it got stuck on the way between L and H. It wouldn't budge. I tried with my foot, but was too tall to fit. My wife, a little shorter, was able to leg press it into H, and we were back on the road. We actually ended up bending the lever a bit, but that's better than being stuck in 4LO on the highway.

Any way, home now, lever assembly has been removed, but it is STUCK fast, and definitely corroded. Two of the four bolts holding it on were loose and the gaskets were shot. An overnight soak with WD40 did nothing. Next up is ATF. I assume this is Automatic Transmission Fluid?

Any ideas on best practice to straighten the lever? Technically its not really necessary, it just puts the knob closer to the dash and strains the leather boot a tad.

IMG_9287.JPG

• wildpaths
• Jul 21, 2020

IMG_9290.JPG

• wildpaths
• Jul 21, 2020

IMG_9289.JPG

• wildpaths
• Jul 21, 2020

You have done all the hard work in getting this thing out of the vehicle -- been there, done that, not easy, corrosion in my case was not so severe, and I was stuck in HI range! Can a Los Angeles wrecking yard provide a low cost replacement assembly to make finishing the job easier? Heating the part to allow straightening may not be good for the black cover on the lever -- unless this comes off? There must be a few end-of-life "100 series" around which are able to provide 'donor organs'. Might be worth putting a grease nipple or cap in the housing when putting it all back together so that it can be pumped full of grease or lubricant for future protection .....

 

[Whiskerz]

@Whiskerz went through this before in his FJC, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a matter of being stuck/seized. Mark, how did you end up getting yours un-sucked?

What I can best describe as the blocking ring on the high side went past the end of the gear where it was not supposed to be (like the shifter had traveled past the stop.)and would not shift back into place. To get myself going quickly I bought a junkyard transfer case. It slide back into place without much effort once the transfer was apart. You can pull the transfer case without pulling the transmission.

 

[wildpaths]

This part has a lot of "stock" protection to prevent seizing - boots, gaskets, etc. Apparently they fail often enough that we are having this conversation. I think if it made it 19 years to fail, I will be happy if I get 15 years out of my repair.

Currently soaking in ATF/Acetone blend (thanks for that recommendation everyone). I'll give it an overnight soak then take it to a friends well-equipped workshop to disassemble. Hopefully it is easy enough with some torque, heat, and moderate banging.

As far as the bent lever, my friends are confident that with a well-grounded vice, a cheater pipe, and the miracle of leverage, we should be able to straighten the bent "mild steel" of the shaft, as the "cast steel" of the business end is much stronger. After all, my wife bent it with one leg. I'll give it a shot. And if it stays bent, then it stays bent.

Replacement parts for all the rubber sealing bits are on order from Toyota, so I've got a day or two before I can reinstall anyway.

I haven't sourced a good parts yard in LA yet for Land Cruiser stuff. Typically, I find they take more time than I am willing to give.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

This part has a lot of "stock" protection to prevent seizing - boots, gaskets, etc. Apparently they fail often enough that we are having this conversation. I think if it made it 19 years to fail, I will be happy if I get 15 years out of my repair.

Eh, they're only troublesome after 15-20 years of heat + not being regreased. If you look at the FSM, it specifies grease points at the shifter retainer that presumably should be greased more than once a decade.

 

[wildpaths]

Yep, it was definitely corroded!

I did the soak in 50/50 Acetone/ATF overnight. With a big vise we were able get it to start rotating, then hammered it out with a lead hammer.

It is now polished up, and reinstalled with all new gaskets from Toyota (took 5 days to get those). And it is so easy and smooth - OMG!

Thank you having this thread to give me confidence to try this repair myself. Didn;t even have to drop the tranny to get to the 12mm bolts because I have long and skinny monkey arms, and a $17 life-saving 12mm box end pivoting ratchet!

 

[JunkCrzr89]

View attachment 2382294

Yep, it was definitely corroded!

I did the soak in 50/50 Acetone/ATF overnight. With a big vise we were able get it to start rotating, then hammered it out with a lead hammer.

It is now polished up, and reinstalled with all new gaskets from Toyota (took 5 days to get those). And it is so easy and smooth - OMG!

Thank you having this thread to give me confidence to try this repair myself. Didn;t even have to drop the tranny to get to the 12mm bolts because I have long and skinny monkey arms, and a $17 life-saving 12mm box end pivoting ratchet!

You did add grease at the FSM-spec’d locations, right?

 

[wildpaths]

You did add grease at the FSM-spec’d locations, right?

Grease...?

 

[wildpaths]

Hell, yes! I greased the retainer block, I greased the shaft bearing surfaces, I greased the washers, I filled the boots with grease, and I filled that entire cavity with grease!

If it fails again, it will not be for lack of grease!!!

 

[UZJ100KRUISA]

View attachment 2382294

Yep, it was definitely corroded!

I did the soak in 50/50 Acetone/ATF overnight. With a big vise we were able get it to start rotating, then hammered it out with a lead hammer.

It is now polished up, and reinstalled with all new gaskets from Toyota (took 5 days to get those). And it is so easy and smooth - OMG!

Thank you having this thread to give me confidence to try this repair myself. Didn;t even have to drop the tranny to get to the 12mm bolts because I have long and skinny monkey arms, and a $17 life-saving 12mm box end pivoting ratchet!

Everyone is talking about how to get the actual shaft free, but how did you get to the 2 12mm bolts on the left? obviously the 2 on the right are givens, but if you could share how you reached/found the 2 on the left side that would be great, from what I've seen sitting under mine it seems impossible. thanks.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

Everyone is talking about how to get the actual shaft free, but how did you get to the 2 12mm bolts on the left? obviously the 2 on the right are givens, but if you could share how you reached/found the 2 on the left side that would be great, from what I've seen sitting under mine it seems impossible. thanks.

From under the truck. It's a reach for sure, so if you're short you'll need to stretch beforehand and then apply some acrobatics. Knewstance 1998 Restoration/Build

 

[Alexholl2015]

Ended up cutting two, well 3 holes because of an alignment issue, to reapply bolts on the left hand. Next, covered it with insulation from below and above sealing the holes. Not perfect, but cut the job to 10 minutes.

 

[UZJ100KRUISA]

Ended up cutting two, well 3 holes because of an alignment issue, to reapply bolts on the left hand. Next, covered it with insulation from below and above sealing the holes. Not perfect, but cut the job to 10 minutes.

View attachment 2427617

This looks like its what ill be doing, maybe youre pictures will help me map out where im drilling

 

[knewstance]

This looks like its what ill be doing, maybe youre pictures will help me map out where im drilling

If you can get the bolts on the right side in, the whole thing is more or less in place. After that you should be able to reach up with a wrench (ratcheting will be easiest) and put the left side bolts on.

 

[UZJ100KRUISA]

Ended up cutting two, well 3 holes because of an alignment issue, to reapply bolts on the left hand. Next, covered it with insulation from below and above sealing the holes. Not perfect, but cut the job to 10 minutes.

View attachment 2427617

Did you take the whole transmission shift assembly out to make room For this? Is there a way to just move the lever/trim around it to make room? Thanks

 

[wildpaths]

Did you take the whole transmission shift assembly out to make room For this? Is there a way to just move the lever/trim around it to make room? Thanks

Note from the OP: I was able to do from beneath without dropping the differential at all, mostly because I have long skinny arms and delicate hands. It definitely helped to get a ratcheting flat wrench in 12mm. In my research most people drop the differential 2" to get more room.

Personally, I hated the idea of drilling holes, but that's just me. Good luck!

 

[UZJ100KRUISA]

Just finished getting my lever out, soaked it in 50/50 mix of acetone/atf for about 12 hours, topped it with some pb blaster and got it in a vice, put a pipe on it and got it moving a bit, torched the aluminum housing and slowly mad progress, applying pb blaster as i went, wire-brushed the lever shaft as well as the inside of the retainer, then polished the shaft with some glass sander, sanded, cleaned and greased the life out of EVERYTHING and shes ready to go back in, i think i will get my hands on some wire mesh and apoxy to fill the holes i made then spray some rust stopper. Thanks so much for the info and recommendations, will report back pertaining to ease of use once its in.