Tercel 4wd Transmission Input shaft gears are broken...

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frenchies22
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Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 6:11 pm
My tercel:: 1983

Tercel 4wd Transmission Input shaft gears are broken...

Post by frenchies22 »

Hello!
I have an 83 Toyota Tercel that after many trusty miles, blew the input shaft bearing which caused damage to all of the input shaft/ drop down gears. Are these gears potentially repairable by a machine shop? or source able by a forum member? I bought a junkyard transmission which has the exact same issues. Any advice or direction would be helpful otherwise I will have to part the old tercel out. Trying to keep this old toyota alive.

Thank You!
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MrWrench
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Posts: 252
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:10 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Tercel SR5. aka Spud
Location: Michigan
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Re: Tercel 4wd Transmission Input shaft gears are broken...

Post by MrWrench »

To my knowledge, all these parts are NLA. I had a transmission shop look up part input gears and synchros for me in the past with no luck.

I might have a core I could rip apart. Where are you locAted?
1984 SR5. Lifted offroader with a snorkel. Aka "Thunderbucket"
1985 SR5. Daily driver. Aka "Spud"
1986 SR5. Dakar Rally clone build.
frenchies22
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Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 6:11 pm
My tercel:: 1983

Re: Tercel 4wd Transmission Input shaft gears are broken...

Post by frenchies22 »

I am located in Humboldt County, California. I will disassemble the transmission more. It appears to be the first three gears have chunks missing on one transmission, and the other transmission i purchased the gears are worn down to nubs. Its a bummer...
xirdneh
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Posts: 2121
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:38 am
My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Tercel 4wd Transmission Input shaft gears are broken...

Post by xirdneh »

How much oil was in the tranny? 4 quarts is full, less than two is bad. Usually there are signs of running hot like blackend or browned gears/ shafts. If no signs of low oil/heat i would save the synchros that are not worn to no gap. And fifth gears if they are not chipped. Not much else is worth saving except the 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th shift forks if they are not heavily worn
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
frenchies22
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Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 6:11 pm
My tercel:: 1983

Re: Tercel 4wd Transmission Input shaft gears are broken...

Post by frenchies22 »

Thank you for the reply xirdneh! You are a tercel legend. Well I was hearing bearing noises, and I changed the fluid to find it about a quart low with a bit of metal dust in the oil. After replacing the oil it ran for another couple thousand miles before parts of the input shaft bearing exploded causing locking up. I have disassembled the front half and found the front gears for the drop down case are all chipped. So I bought a junkyard transmission to find basically the same issue but worse. At this point I may just part the car out. I was just hoping somebody may tell me there is hope for the old girl...
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Tercel 4wd Transmission Input shaft gears are broken...

Post by Petros »

there are still good used transmissions to find for a replacement or for parts. keep looking. the front wheel drive trans from 1980 through 86 should use the same parts: input shaft and front drive gears. so you can also look for those.

if the rest of the Tercel4wd is in good running condition, you should not part it out, but keep looking for the parts you need and get it back on the road. t hat car is now worth over $4000, and worth fixing.

good luck
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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