forum member Xirdneh looked into having some made. most local machine shops would not make small runs of such parts at any kind of reasonable price. He found a machine shop in India that wold make us 10,000 of each really cheap. since two of the five are the same, I thought if they would charge us an extra fee to make perhaps 2000 of each of the two, it might be worth it to get enough for 1000 trans rebuilds. Even if we never use all of the parts up, it would still be cheaper than have 100 made locally. The smaller one I think is for 5th gear, which almost never is worn out. So getting 1st/2nd, and 3rd/4th synchronous would be the most important.
here is really the problem: to rebuild a T4wd trans, you would spend about $400 to 500 in parts, and about that much in labor if you do not do it yourself. Considering it would be about $1000, not counting the removal and replacement of the trans labor, for a rebuilt tercel4wd trans, how many in the next 5 to 10 years would we sell?
since more than half the Tercel4wd sell for less than $1500 right now (much more for clean good running ones of course, but they do not need transmissions), and lots of fixers for well under $1000. how many would buy a kit or a rebuilt trans?
one could set up a reasonable business rebuilding T4wd transmissions, for perhaps $800 each (exchange), labor and new parts, plus shipping. but how many would you be able to sell? I know there are often many that come to this forum looking for good transmissions, but I doubt most of them would be willing to spend $800 plus shipping for a rebuilt one. Some might, but enough to justify having a number of syncros made?
It is a tough sell I think. at least until these cars restored start selling for upwards of $10,000 or more, there would not be a very large market for obsolete Toyota transmission parts.
If you can find a local machine shop that would make you a set or two of syncros for about $200 for the set, than it might be viable (new from Toyota, when they were available years ago, they were about $22 to $29 each).
Out of all of the forum members, there are I think perhaps only 4 or 5 that might try to rebuild a trans. And of the rest that need transmissions I suspect even fewer would be willing to pay $800 or so for a rebuilt one. So at best you might sell 6 to ten sets in the next 5 to 10 years.
Isnt the small one used for EL as well as 5th gear? While I will not argue the fact that it is not a sound business idea (unless the car makes collector status), I will argue the necessity of reproducing these parts.
Most of our cars are 30+ years old, and the ones that aren't will be soon. Eventually the viable used transmission replacement will be impossible to find. Without a way to rebuild the transmissions, our cars are bound for extinction. I for one do not want to see that and I am sure more people feel the same way.
It's not about making money. It's about saving these rare and fun transmissions so the t4wd can live on forever.
irowiki wrote:Only 5? I figured there'd be six for EL.
Synchos are for pairs of gears as I understand it, 1st/2nd, 2nd/3rd, 3rd/4th...etc.
EL and 5th gear use the same synchro as far as I know, Xirdneh would be the one to ask about that, I am still learning about transmissions so don't quote me.
Gottolovem wrote:ohhh sooo pritty i hope you can find someone to getrdone
Shouldn't be a problem to reproduce, synthdesign is on the case with me, and he knows a few people in that area of expertise.
Anyone else interested? High demand could help hasten the project.
Three sizes,six synchros (2)1st and 2nd (large), (2)3rd and 4th (medium) and (2)5th and extra low (small)
The extra low synchro never wears out
2wd and 4wd trannies use same synchros
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
Here is what I recommend
Stop at some local trannyshops and see what they can find
Different shops have different sources
The idea is to find that dust covered syncho sitting on a shelf somewhere in the USA
I found some recently when I stopped in a shop out of town
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
My tercel:: 1983, DLX 4wd wagon with 4.1 manual gearbox, tow bar). Manual steering. 313,000 kms. Tercel 4WD SR5, 1987, 500,000kms. Other car - 2003 Rav4, AWD, 2l manual, Peugeot 407 Diesel (93,000 miles) in Ireland for use when on holiday there.
My tercel:: 1983, DLX 4wd wagon with 4.1 manual gearbox, tow bar). Manual steering. 313,000 kms. Tercel 4WD SR5, 1987, 500,000kms. Other car - 2003 Rav4, AWD, 2l manual, Peugeot 407 Diesel (93,000 miles) in Ireland for use when on holiday there.
I visited my local Toyota dealer and got him to check the availability of the synchro rings. Unfortunately none are available in Australia, but he will check with Japan and get back to me. I'm sure one of you guys would've have done that already through your local dealer. So I'm not very hopeful I'll be able to get them here. But if you guys are looking at getting them made, I'll be happy to buy a set as spares.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson - The Dalai Lama
four years ago I had Toyota check in North America: in all of North America there was one syncro (I think the 3/4th gear one) available for $26. I almost bought it, but than thought what was the point? If I took a trans that far apart I would want to replace them all.