Looking for Someone with a Wobbly Auto Shifter in the California Bay Area

[mtbtim]

Hey Dudes or Dudettes,

I'm looking for a donor 3rd Gen with a wobbly Auto Trans Shifter so I can perform a shifter bushing replacement on it. As a bonus, I will replace your transfer case shifter seat as well with one from Marlin Crawler. So, you would need to be someone with a 4wd model. The only caveat is I want to do this repair on a rig with a really sloppy shifter so we can show the clear before and after benefits of performing the job. Both my 3rd Gens aren't that bad so I'd like to do it on somebody else's rig.

All you have to be willing to do is come to my place in San Jose during this Virus Lockdown. I will provide the parts and do all the labor for free. You just have to play cameraman or camerawoman and be patient to sit through the video process. I promise I won't breath on you too much. We could wear masks if you're worried about the plague.

Thanks,
Timmy

 

[TRD 4RNR]

I'm your guy.
I was just driving it today and thinking about getting the shifter fixed !

 

[mtbtim]

I'm your guy.
I was just driving it today and thinking about getting the shifter fixed !

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner.

Sweet! I already have the 4 shifter bushings but I don't have the marlin crawler shifter seat yet. But, it should be arriving soon.

I'll pm you with my contact info.

 

[phattyduck]

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner.

Sweet! I already have the 4 shifter bushings but I don't have the marlin crawler shifter seat yet. But, it should be arriving soon.

I'll pm you with my contact info.

Good idea to do the shifter seat while you are there. Two stones with one bird and all. You may want to try both methods of putting the TC shifter back in there, the snap ring and unbolting it. I wonder which one is easier (I did the snap ring).

My shifter seat was disintegrated on my transfer case, but oddly, the auto shifter bushings are still in good shape. I even ordered a set for the shifter and now they are lonely in the garage waiting to be used.

-Charlie

 

[wake_rider]

Dude... I need you in Oklahoma.

 

[mtbtim]

Good idea to do the shifter seat while you are there. Two stones with one bird and all. You may want to try both methods of putting the TC shifter back in there, the snap ring and unbolting it. I wonder which one is easier (I did the snap ring).

My shifter seat was disintegrated on my transfer case, but oddly, the auto shifter bushings are still in good shape. I even ordered a set for the shifter and now they are lonely in the garage waiting to be used.

-Charlie

I've done the snap ring all 3 times I've removed one of the transfer case shifters. Two of the times the transmissions were out of the rig when we replaced the seat and the other was when I replaced it on my 98. I had a gear oil leak and I could tell it was leaking from all the way out of the top of transfer case so I figured gear oil was getting past the seat. It could have been coming from the top plate gasket but it was a fair amount of gear oil coming out and it seemed more plausible it was blowing past the seat. I felt gear oil all around the shifter boot and there wasn't anything around the breather hose and nipple. After replacing the seat, the gear oil stopped spewing out so I think it was the culprit.

I like removing the plate anyway to avoid broken pieces of the seat ending up in the transfer case so I bought a new top plate gasket as well. My auto shifters on both my 3rd Gens have some detectable play but it doesn't seem that bad to me so I'd rather do it on somebodies rig with lots of play to show a better before and after result.

 

[BroBrad]

Dude... I need you in Oklahoma.

Same boat here in NTX!

 

[SenorGrunt21]

My auto shifter on our 01 SR5 wobbles but wobbles with the whole tyranny assy and what feels like the engine at highway speeds, which would mean it's probably the mount right

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Tucson4runner]

Can I get links or part numbers for the pieces your replacing. Thanks !

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[3bears]

while I dont have a problem and I am too far away I am looking forward to another one of your videos. Thanks for all your videos

 

[mtbtim]

Can I get links or part numbers for the pieces your replacing. Thanks !

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

If you need the info right away, I can get it for you. If not, the video will have the Toyota part numbers for the 4 shifter bushings and gasket for the top plate of the transfer case and I'll also provide a link to the shifter seat I bought from Marlin Crawler.

 

[mtbtim]

My auto shifter on our 01 SR5 wobbles but wobbles with the whole tyranny assy and what feels like the engine at highway speeds, which would mean it's probably the mount right

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by wobbling. These rigs are body on frame with the engine and transmission / transfer case suspended on mounts. There will be some vibration in the shifters but not crazy movement unless one of the mounts is broken or you're just seeing movement from worn bushings.

 

[Mighty Buffalo]

opcorn:

 

[Ghostrider]

Out of curiosity - is the shifter the same on 2WD and 4WD? Was at the junkyard today for a part ofthe rear bumper and thought about grabbing the shifter. It was 2WD so I held off since I have 4WD

 

[mtbtim]

Out of curiosity - is the shifter the same on 2WD and 4WD? Was at the junkyard today for a part ofthe rear bumper and thought about grabbing the shifter. It was 2WD so I held off since I have 4WD

They're different.

 

[Tucson4runner]

If you need the info right away, I can get it for you. If not, the video will have the Toyota part numbers for the 4 shifter bushings and gasket for the top plate of the transfer case and I'll also provide a link to the shifter seat I bought from Marlin Crawler.

I'll wait for the video, going to refer to it anyways while doing this. Thanks guys.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[mtbtim]

I'll wait for the video, going to refer to it anyways while doing this. Thanks guys.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

I'm helping Mike out tomorrow with this job so you won't have to wait too long for the video. Maybe a week or so.

 

[phattyduck]

Out of curiosity - is the shifter the same on 2WD and 4WD? Was at the junkyard today for a part ofthe rear bumper and thought about grabbing the shifter. It was 2WD so I held off since I have 4WD

4WD and 2WD shifters are different. They use the same pivot bushing, but the 4WD uses 4 and the 2WD shifter uses 2. The rest of the assembly is very different.

-Charlie

 

[mtbtim]

Well, the search continues for a lab rat for me to do my experiment on. [MENTION=78100]TRD 4RNR[/MENTION] (Michael) came over this morning and his issue wasn't worn shifter bushings. Hell, his auto shifter felt tighter than the ones on both my 3rd Gens. His issue was his shifter not locking into each gear properly. When he would be in drive, his gear selector would sometimes drop all on it's own into 2nd. I figured it had to be a linkage issue so I loosened the nut that attaches the shifter arm to the trans linkage and it moved forward around a 1/2" to it's new happy neutral position. I tightened the nut and we checked his shifter and it was acting correctly again. Originally, we noticed when the shifter was placed in Low "L" and we nudged the shifter forward to "2", it would bypass 2 and go into drive. So, we knew something wasn't right because both my rigs would drop into each gear no problem.

Michael said this issue started after he got an oil change around 10k miles ago. We think maybe the mechanic did something screwy and stressed the linkage somehow, but how they did it while doing an oil change, who knows. Maybe they slammed it into park while the rig was still rolling and the linkage connection was able to shift a bit? Anyway, Michael is happy his issue is fixed.

So, back to finding another willing Lab Rat. Does anyone else in the California Bay Area have a sloppy shifter? When I say sloppy, I mean side to side sloppiness, driver side to passenger side, not front to back. Front to back play is just play in the transmission shifting linkage and not worn out bushings.

Thanks Fellers!

 

[TRD 4RNR]

Thanks again for your time this morning. You saved me from heading down the wrong road on a $$ project that it's obvious now wasn't even the problem.